Trade Up
by RockBane
Summary: Naruto - 'There's no place like home' - Dorumon - 'Home sweet home.' - Ryo - 'Isn't that a little redundant' - Terriermon - 'I'm still angry that I don't have a scene in this final chapter' - Henry - 'Momentai'
1. Chapter 1

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Age: 11**

As he watches the sun rise over the horizon, he can't seem to really try to lift his spirits by watching the scene before him. With a sigh, he turns away from the colouring horizon to glance at his ex-instructor, the man that he had believed in just hours before. His hand grips the top of the Forbidden scroll as his other hand goes to the pouch filled with much smaller scrolls that he had stolen along side the much larger one.

"I'm such a fool, believing that I could ever be a ninja." He murmurs hatefully to himself, nobody was around other then the silver haired Chunin and himself, the container to the Kyuubi. So much self-loathing enters into his being that he wishes that he could just kneel over and puck it out of him, he already feels sick to his stomach as it is.

_'Do you wish to have a new start at life?'_ An eerie voice asks him and he stiffens, his eyes darting around the clearing that he's standing in. He swallows before replying.

"And what if I am? What business is it of your's?" He growls, likely a pale imitation of what the demon fox within him likely sounded like when the Kyuubi wasn't sealed within him.

_'You know that they're coming and seeing that you're kind of at a dead end right now, seeing as yonder man convinced you to steal all those scrolls.'_ The voice says, he winces at being reminded of that trick, though the voice continues on, _'I can see a very bright future for you, Naruto. One that will allow you to make your own choices, where the adults aren't trying to hold you back.'_

He bits down on his lip, unsure on whether or not to take this... guy, he really hopes it's a guy since if it were a girl... He turns to stare at the fallen ninja as he considers the offer. Finally he asks, "And what do you get in return? I highly doubt you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart."

Hours ago he wouldn't have asked that question, but now, things have changed. A person he thought he could trust and was just trying to help him achieve his dream had turned out to have been planning to not just discrediting him by having him steal all those scrolls, true the silver haired man wanted only the Forbidden scroll but he had hinted that if he got a few extra ones, they'd be considered bonus points, but also on killing him. So he learnt a very important lesson, one that he'd be lucky to live through when those ninjas come to take the scrolls back from him.

The creepy voice laughs an even creepier laugh, a laugh that causes slight shivers up and down his spine. _'A very good question, boy. Let's just say that by helping you get away from this place, I help myself by adding an unknown element to the worlds at large.'_ The finally answers once the being finishes laughing that creepy laugh.

The answer throw him, he cocks his head to the side with his brow and lips frowning for a few seconds. He perks as he hears voices calling out in the distant. He becomes frighten and he glances to the Forbidden scroll. He's mind a whirl about what to do, but he knows he has to decide.

"I'll go, just... I want to take what I got with me too." He says softly and the voice chuckles slightly, he knew that the being agreed as the Forbidden scroll shrinks as his world begins to flash before his eyes. With a gasp, he finds himself in a new world, a world that seems to be totally barren...

-(V)-

**Daemon**

**Dark Ocean**

_'Drat, but then, I didn't think it would work, so therefore, it's a minor victory. He's alive and well, likely thanks to that fox within him.'_ He muses as he studies the energy tear that allows him to see between worlds that showed where the eleven year old boy was. Though he won't be able to do much expect resting, after all, it took a great deal of energy to move the blond from his world, a world that didn't have a Digital world connected to it, to that Digital world.

He truly can never understand the mind of humans, the boy and the fox sealed within him represented power, a power that could have been used to further that village's power. All the fools needed to do was win the boy's trust and devotion, the boy would have done anything they'd asked of him, but at last, they didn't couldn't even grasp that concept. _'Oh well, their lost, my gain.'_ He muses as he watches the boy's reaction to the fact that there isn't much of a sky over his head.

"Go, find a partner of your own choosing. Get strong, boy. For the harder it is for Yggdrasil and the others to deport you, the more likely they'll not notice my escape from this _prison_." He says out loud, knowing that the boy can't hear anything that he's saying. The memory of how the Digidestine managed to send him to the Dark Ocean plays within his mind.

At first he thought it was such a simple matter of finding a weak spot within this twilight world to open a portal to escape, but within days he's found out for himself that the powers that be had altered this world so it would become an inescapable prison for him. First that Tamer Taichi and his blue partner, a Digimon named Zeromaru of all things, ruin his plans in that world with the help of Neo, so he traveled to a world that, through his scans, had been visited by the Digimon God Millenniummon and located that one of the Chosen children was infested with a Dark Spore.

Once more, things didn't go as planned as interference from Myotismon prevented him from getting to the boy first and then the other Digidestine aided Ken in opening a portal to the Dark Ocean. Though the Digimon that he recruited to help him get the boy ended up forgetting the objective and went onto not just taunt the Chosen, but engaged them in battle and lost. Then finally to his current situation as his attempt to bring the blond boy to the lands of Azulongmon in hopes of tricking the boy into opening up a way out of the Dark Ocean from that Digital world.

But he's patient, in a few years he'll once more attempt to bring the boy, plus whatever Digimon he partners up with, to the correct Digital world and call on that debt that now has with the boy. After all, if Naruto won't aid him, he now knows where to find someone who can. The image of one Sasuke Uchiha flashes in the energy tear between worlds before the tear closes up.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

"Ok, it's been..." He checks his counting stick and says, "About six weeks and I'm still not hungry. I don't know whether to freak out or just keep doing what I've been doing since I found this rocky valley."

He knows that talking to yourself means that you're mad, but, after being here for just a day he already fell into that habit, or maybe he always had this habit and just never noticed because he lived in a village filled with other people so he just envisioned that he was talking to someone. With something new to think about, he creates twenty Shadow clones and without a word from him, they get to work in groups of five. Each group gets a scroll and then they're to work on what's within the scroll until they're all gone or when they've mastered wants written on the scroll.

True, a few of the scrolls are Genjutsu and he sucks at that branch of the ninja arts but he's determined to learn, master, and maybe improved what's on the scrolls he's stolen. Though he usually puts those Genjutsu scrolls off to the side so that he'll come back to them at a later date, well, hopefully at a later date. Before he leaves the large cavern, he studies the four groups of five for a minute before shaking his head and heading out into the rocky valley that seems to be devoid of all life with the exception of some kind of odd animated rock things claiming to be Gotsumon.

He stretches slightly at the entrance, while he's gotten use to the fact that shift between day and night seemed to consist of a freaky phenomenon of a line of light that can shift the world into a brightness of day or into the darkness of night. His eyes drift upwards as he studies the even weirder and eerier 'sky' of this strange world he's been living in for a bit over a month.

He then studies the horizons around him, checking for those odd pillars of light that, if he believed those rock creatures called Gotsumon, would zap you to another part of the world. While that does stir his adventurous spirit, he rather wait until he's done learning what he can from the scrolls before heading out to explore more about this world and those that call this world home. If they were anything like the rock people of this valley, he'll have an easy time living here seeing that it would mean that he'd be without anyone trying to single him out, to threaten him… Calling him a monster…

A slight smile appears as he stares off to where the Gotsumon village or town. Other then getting slightly bug about taking one of them as a partner, he got along pretty well with his new neighbours. He snaps out of his musings on hearing a bunch of cursing coming from the cavern that he's claimed as his own.

He walks off with a purpose away from the cavern, he heads to the vertical slab of stone that he's been using to measure his progress at focusing his…. chakra into his feet and trying to run up the stone's surface. He's also found that channelling some chakra into a kunai does make better lines on the slab of stone then just trying to use the kunai itself, plus for some reason, him channelling chakra into the kunai made it keep its edge longer. Why that is, he has yet to figure out but he's pretty sure that it's written in a scroll somewhere, whether he managed to get one of those scrolls were another story all together.

He takes a moment to study the shallow lines on the stone, marks made before the law of gravity decided to take hold of him. With a sigh, he reaches into his pouch to take out one of his kunai. Just as he's gathered some chakra into his feet, he hears a scream coming from his distant right.

He turns to listen to the sound and watches as a large amount of dust erupt from that direction. Without a second thought, he puts his kunai back into his pouch and heads off to see what's up. He leaps easily from the top of one large rocky ledge to another, slowly climbing up the valley wall.

Once he's out of the valley, he blinks as he sees two large beings fighting with a smaller purple ball almost between them. One of the beings looked to be a sandy turtle with spikes jetting out of its shell. The shell monster's beck is currently trying to tear out the other being's shoulder.

The other being is a large sandy coloured and seems to be made out of rocks. One the thing's head is a metal helmet that seems to cover the top of its skull. It also seems as if the being is being held together by leather ropes or something of that nature since he can see it around the joints.

Despite the beck biting down on its shoulder, the thing made of stone doesn't seem to feel any pain as the other hand grabs the turtle being around its exposed neck. "Ground Dash!" The spiked shell monster cries out as the turtle's forelimbs slash into the rock being's chest and move downwards towards the ground, what startles him was the fact that the turtle beast spoke.

The golem looking monster is sent back which allows the turtle monster to fall onto its forelimbs. The shelled monster misses squishing the small purple ball as it charges towards the helmet wearing monster. "Sulphure Plume!" Bellows the monster made out of rock and as he watches, a bunch of ash shoots out of its mouth, hitting the spiked shell in the face.

"Eep!" He hears a higher voice cries out and the purple ball tries to flee blindly out of the way of the two fighting monsters. _'You mean that isn't a toy ball?'_ He wonders to himself since he didn't want to attract either monster's attention if he could help it since he hasn't the faintest idea as to what they are and why they're fighting each other.

The two larger monsters seem to pause to watch the tiny purple ball looking monster tries to escape the battle field. He bites his lip, not sure if he should get involved or not. "Why can't you guys leave me alone!" He hears that same high pitch voice shout out; it kind of reminds him of a younger kid's voice.

Before he realises it, he's darting towards the two large monsters chasing after the smaller purple beast that reminds him of a ball. He has to admit, considering that the two monsters have longer strides then it, the purple monster seems to be a few steps ahead of the pair, though he figures that the kid monster was getting tired since the monster made of rock manages to over take the purple one.

He adds a bit of chakra and manages to slip under the spiked shell turtle monster and grabs the small purple beast just as a rock fist slams down where the small beast had been laying. He manages to leap over the turtle's head and then races over the spikes on the turtle beast's back before leaping off the turtle's back. He keeps running, not bothering to take a look back to see what the pair's reactions were to the fact that he stole their 'toy.'

He hears bellows of surprise turn to outrage just as he reaches the spot he had been standing just minutes before. He finally chances a look over his shoulder to find that the turtle shelled monster had tripped and the rock monster runs into it. He turns away as he comes to the slant marking the beginning of the rocky valley.

He slides down the valley's wall, careful to leap over any rock that he was about to slam into. He has to admit as he slows as he reaches his measuring rock, that it had been a rush sliding down the valley's incline. He almost stumbles as he tries to take a few steps on the dirt path.

With a sigh, he turns around to take a look at where he slid down. The beast in his arms hops out of his arms and onto the ground. He then begins to chuckle and within seconds that chuckle becomes uncontrollable laughter.

As he finally gets control of his laughter, he finds that the purple monster wasn't totally purple in colour as it seems that the tip of the muzzle and toes were white. He notices a pair of pointed ears on the little guy's head. Defiant amber eyes study him with curiosity and wariness; he can't help but notice how tense the little guy is.

"Well, that was a rush, wasn't it?" He muses with a slightly silly grin on his face. "You think that was fun? I could have been deleted and loaded!" The purple beast growls out.

"Deleted?" He asks, tasting the word since he's never heard that word before. "Yes! I could have been killed and my data loaded by my killer." The little guy snaps and he blinks as he cocks his head on hearing another new word.

It takes a moment before it dawns on him that deleted seems to mean to die and he frowns slightly on figuring it out. "Why would they want to 'load' your 'data'?" He asks, more then likely he won't enjoy what the little purple dude is about to tell him but he gets the feeling that it's something he has to know now that he's residing in this world.

The little guy blinks; it seems that the cute beastie expected him to know this fact. "But you're a Tamer! How could you not know something as important as that? I mean, why else would you become a Digimon Tamer if not to help your partner Digimon get stronger?" The little guy shouts at him.

"Ah, well, you see, I'm pretty sure I'm not a Tamer and I haven't the faintest clue as to what a Digimon is. I've met some Gotsumon but no Digimon and though they've asked about me taking a partner, I haven't, so, yea, I really don't know what you're going on about." He admits cheerfully to the small beast.

The little guy's mouth moves but no sound comes out of it as well as blinking rapidly. _'It would seem that I still have that ability to cause people to be render speechless.'_ He muses as he waits for the little purple monster to find his voice…

The little guy's mouth slams shut as the little guy puffs slightly before growling out, "Then out in Chaos's name were you able to survive this long in the Digital world? And what do you mean you don't know what a Digimon is?! Then how did you get here from the real world without evening knowing what a Digimon is?!"

His index finger on his left hand rubs the inside of his ear, not that it stops the ringing in his ears any. As he pulls out his finger, he thinks about how to answer the little guy's inquiry. "Hmmm, let's see. Well first off, I've only been here for a little over six weeks and I've aced the academy's survive tests, though for some reason I haven't had felt the need to eat since I got here either." He answers, he pauses as he tries to think of how much to reveal next.

"As to why I don't know what a Digimon is, that's simple, where I came from nobody has ever mentioned anything about them and I kind of accepted somebody's offer to start a new life which is how I showed up here. I don't know who that guy was nor did I get the guy's name, though he knew mine." He answers; he can still hear that creepy laughter as if it were only yesterday.

After a few silent seconds he decides to introduce himself, "By the way, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The little purple being sighs and replies, "I'm Dorimon and I'm an In-Training Digimon." He frowns slightly before asking, "Is Dorimon your actual name or what?"

"It's my species name." Dorimon says and he blinks. "So do all Digimon go by their species name or are they just too lazy to think up name names?" He asks since it seems to be a bizarre way to live your life, seeing that if you live in a community of the same species, which would get kind of confusing answering to the species name instead of an individual name.

Dorimon looks surprise and then seems to think about it for a few moments before answering, "Well, to be honest, I don't think it ever came up before. So I won't know."

He nods and then glances up to where he had journey to see what the excitement was all about. "Well, since neither of those… Digimon have appeared, I'd say you're a free Digimon." He muses as he continues to stare at the spot where the valley ends and the sandy wasteland begins.

"Guess so. I wonder if they deleted each other or if someone stronger showed up…" Dorimon wonders and he shrugs, he can't answer that since he, like Dorimon, weren't around to see how their fight ended.

He sighs and glances down to where Dorimon is standing, wondering if the little guy was planning on sticking around this valley for a while. Though he wonders if the Gotsumon would try to delete Dorimon to load his data, he's not sure what data was or why anyone would load it, but he figures he's got time to learn stuff like that.

"So, you want to crash at my place until you find a place of your very own?" He asks, he's kind of enjoyed talking with Dorimon and it might not be so bad having the little guy around, at least he'd have someone to chat with more often since he doesn't visit the Gotsumon a whole lot. He's pretty aware of how lonely he is and kind of hopes that the little Digimon takes him up on his offer.

Dorimon cocks his head to the side as the little guy considers his offer. After a few seconds, Dorimon sighs. "So, are you said that there were some Gotsumon living in this valley?" Dorimon asks and he nods. "Pretty friendly rock beings that are about yea high." He answers and holds his right hand to the height that they come up to on him.

"Might as well, for the night at least. I am injured and rather not see how peaceful this colony is." Dorimon admit and he grins brightly at the little guy, Dorimon gives him a weak grin and within moments he's leading the little purple Digimon to his cavern. He's pretty sure that all the Shadow clones would be out of chakra by the time they reach the caves as well.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

He slowly comes to his senses and begins to notice how much warmer he is then when he fell asleep. It takes him a few moments to figure out that the source of warmth was coming from his right side. So he slowly moves turns his head to the right and cracks open one of his eyes.

It take a few minutes to register that the source of the warmth wasn't little Dorimon, but a much larger purple creature with a bushy tail that he can't see the tip of. All he could see was the creature's back and the tiny wings coming out of the beast's shoulder. He becomes fully awake but he doesn't move since he didn't want to disturb the purple beast lying next to him and for another, he's kind of comfortable where he is.

In the end, after countless minutes, the beast finally begins to wake up without any aid from him. As the beast stretches his limbs, he can see white fur covering the tips of the beast's muzzle, legs, and tail. He smiles as the creature's head comes to rest on his lap, giving him a good view of the ruby red marking on the beast's head. He couldn't help himself; he reaches out with his left hand and touches the marking. To his surprise, what he's now touching wasn't fur, but something hard to his touch as it didn't have the give that fur did.

"Are you done poking it?" A slightly deeper voice asks, he also realises that the voice sounded a great deal like Dorimon's voice only now it sounded much… older. He pulls his hand away and asks, "So, who are you now?"

At once Dorimon blinks and finally realises that he's undergone a transformation. "I Digivolved…" The purple Digimon says in amazement.

As the Digimon formally known as Dorimon gets up, he pulls himself into a sitting position as he watches as the Digimon examine himself more closely. After watching the Digimon move around in a circle for what feels like the seventeenth time, he repeats his question, "So, what are you called now?"

"I'm Dorumon now, a rookie level Digimon." Dorumon says with a hint of pride as the purple Digimon pulls himself up and puffs out his chest. "So then, I take it that this occurs naturally then? Transforming from one form to another I mean." He asks.

"Well, yea, it is, though it usually happens when a Digimon gets more experience is all." The purple rookie answers. "So, I guess this kind of changes things, huh?" He muses and the purple beast nods in agreement. "Yea, it does." Dorumon replies.

Dorumon gives him a quick look before looking away. He sighs, not sure whether or not to be happy for the purple beast, seeing as how the little guy is now likely more stronger then he had been as Dorimon. A slight growl echoes through the cavern and he watches as Dorumon places his arms by his mid section looking embarrassed.

"I don't suppose you have any food around here, do you?" Dorumon asks and he sighs. "I haven't found much in the way of food since I got here. There's a river though, I never really bothered to see if there were any fish in it though." He answers once he gets to his feet.

He walks over to pick up his discarded jumper. Once he puts it on, though it's getting pretty ratty, he then straps on his pouches onto his person. He glances to Dorumon before leading the way out of the cavern, he once more leading the purple beast through the valley, though this time; he's not carrying the Digimon.

As he thinks about what his last meal consisted of, his own stomach begins to ache and it's not long before it rumbles in displeasure of being empty. He feels Dorumon's eyes at his back as well as feel his face heat up. "Guess I'm not the only one thinking of food." Dorumon says with a hint of amusement and satisfaction.

"Guess so." He replies without glancing back to look at Dorumon. They walk in silence since they exhausted things to talk about yesterday as he lead the then tiny fur ball to the cavern he claimed as his.

After about twenty minutes of walking, he would have reached the river quickly on his own if Dorumon wasn't around. He doesn't know how fast the beast can run, but other then having their stomachs complains about the lack of food, he didn't see any reason to rush. As an added plus, he's enjoying the view as well.

Once they reach the river, he bends down to wash his hands before using them as a cup. He can hear Dorumon gosling down the water, he watches the rookie for a few minutes and then he uses his wet hands to wash his face. He dunks his head into the river for a few seconds, once he brings his head up; he shakes his head, enjoying the feel of freshness.

He runs a hand over his forehead and then through his wet hair, moving his bangs out of his face. He then spreads out his fingers and begins to shake his hair, messing it up so it goes back into its usual hair style. He opens his eyes once he rubs some water from his eyes and finds Dorumon watching him with a slightly interested look.

"You're hair, it's so… bright." Dorumon muses and he can't help but blink. Dorumon continues on, "How'd you get those marks on your cheeks? Or are they something humans sometimes have?" He moves his hand to his right cheek, he guess he was dirtier then he thought if Dorumon hadn't noticed them yesterday… He presses his lips together in a straight line, trying to think of how to answer that. "Well, I don't know how I got them, as far as I know, I've always had them. As to if other humans having them, then no, they don't." He finally answers.

"Ah." Dorumon says and then looks down at the river for a moment before turning to his left. He gets up and turns his attention to the river just as Dorumon begins to head off in that direction.

He pauses for a moment before shrugging. He then follows the purple monster, keeping the river to his right. It takes a bit but they finally come to a slightly large pond, complete with some plant life. He shrugs at the sight of the flowering plants close to the bank.

He then turns on hearing something splash, he watches a lazy fish descends back into the water. He grins and within seconds he's striped off most of his cloths with the exception of his boxers and grabs a kunai from his pouch. He puts the kunai in his mouth and then after a short run, leaps into the deeper part of the pool of water.

It takes a few moments but he does manage to catch a large fish. Once he breaks the surface, he wrestles with the fish before tossing it in the direction of Dorumon. As the fish flops towards the pool of water, Dorumon reacts and manages to grab the fish before it could escape back into the water.

Though it takes some doing, he manages to catch a total of four fish, two for Dorumon and two for him. The last fish he had speared it with his kunai, the force of the kunai made the fish hit one of the palm tree trunks. Within moments he's climbing out of the water and towards the stuck fish. He grips what he can of the hilt and pulls the fish and kunai free of the tree trunk.

He takes out the kunai and then guts the fish, just like he learnt during those survival classes. He then does the same with the other three fish. He watches as Dorumon finishes adding some more sticks to the pile of wood. He takes four straight sticks and after making some points at the ends of them, he then spears the fish on the sticks, and then pushes the butts of them next to the soon to be fire.

He debates if he should use a fire jutsu to start a fire or use the matches he has in the stem of his jumper. As he tries to decide what to us, Dorumon take a coloured stone and racked his claws against it, sparks flicker into life for a few moments before dying. He snaps out of his inner debate to watch Dorumon once more rack his claws over the stone.

About the fourth time Dorumon does so, one of the sparks finally catches onto the bundle of leaves, causing a minor fire to be created. Dorumon then moves the little bundle to the main pile and once it's close to some more leaves and twigs, Dorumon blows softly at the little fire. As one of the twigs crack, Dorumon stops and pulls away from the fire.

"How'd you know to do that?" He asks the monster, highly curious as to how Dorumon knew how to do that since the guy had just transformed last night. Dorumon grins in satisfaction as he answers, "When you Digivolve, you get a lot more then just a new body and attacks, you get some inherent knowledge too, like instinctive knowledge of what kind of mushrooms are poisonous to you or how to keep yourself warm by knowing how to make a fire."

"Oh." He says before taking the bloody kunai and washing it in the water. He then for a few seconds, had it in the middle of the fire, hoping that by doing so will kill any unwanted things on the throwing knife. He puts the kunai on a rock and then lies on his back, staring up at the freaky looking moon that seems to be hanging up there, in the 'sky.'

"You know, we kind of made a good team just now. You got the fish and I made the fire." Dorumon muses and he hums in agreement. "I'm just wondering, but, what do you mean by 'partner'?" He asks since he pretty much thought that by partner, the Gotsumon were talking about him getting engaged with one of them.

"You know to have somebody to fight by your side. Kind of to be your best friend, I guess." Dorumon answers and he replies, "Ah. I thought they wanted me to marry one of them." He hears Dorumon snort with a hint of a suppressed chuckle. "You really thought that's what they wanted?" Dorumon asks in a strangled voice and he shrugs.

"Well, in my defence, I've never really had anyone that I could depend on to stick by my side. I don't even have parents and I don't even know who they were since nobody's ever gotten around to telling me about them. I've been pretty much alone throughout most of my life, since parents really didn't want their kids to get to know me. Sure, there have been a few people who take time to make a bit of an impact on my life, but none of them could really drive the ach away." He states in a bland voice since he was pretty much accepted the fact that he'd never make any real friend his age while he lived in Hidden Leaf.

"Kind of sounds like a typical life of a Digimon. I'm pretty sure no Digimon ever knows who their parents are, well, there are likely some communities that are like that but over all, most of us life out our lives without interacting positively with other Digimon. Around here in Zhuqiaomon's lands, it's pretty much survival of the fittest. While Fresh and In-Training Digimon tend to be off limits most of the time, once you get to be a rookie and up, life's pretty brutal and often short." Dorumon muses; he could sympathize with the kind of life that goes on around here.

"Pretty much ever Digimon wants to get strong enough to go to the real world, the world filled with humans, looking for a human to partner up with. Nobody knows what having a Tamer could do to a Digimon but a lot of Digimon want to find out. Some even say that being partnered with a human allows you to Digivolve faster." Dorumon adds, he raises his eyebrow on the bit of humans making a Digimon Digivolve faster.

"It kind of sounds like I'm about to find myself beating Digimon off with a stick as they come to court me once word gets out that I'm around here, huh?" He asks with a touch of amusement. "It probably depends if you get a partner between now and then." Dorumon states and he sits up to look at the purple Digimon.

He sighs and looks into the fire for a few seconds, thinking about what Dorumon had told him. "So, does that mean you're one of those Digimon looking for a partner? A Tamer?" He asks, wondering whether Dorumon was interested or not.

Though oddly enough, he kind of hopes that he was since despite the fact that they hadn't known each other for long, it kind of felt natural having the Digimon around, even if he hasn't the faintest clue what the term Digimon stands for. "Maybe." Dorumon says in a blank tone and before he could react to that, Dorumon adds, "I think the fish need to be turned."

He nods and spent the next few seconds rotating the sticks to allow the backside of the fish to get cooked. Not that it seemed that the effort was needed since it seems that that side was getting cooked either way. He's careful about not touching the flame since doesn't want his hand to sting.

Once that's done, he glances up to Dorumon for a moment before moving back to where he had been sitting before having to turn the fish around. Dorumon seemed to be pretty intent on sky gazing to play much mind to his questioning glances that he sent towards the monster's way.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

'_So, does that mean you're one of those Digimon looking for a partner? A Tamer?'_ As this repeats within his mind, he honestly doesn't know what to think. Sure, he's interested in Naruto; he's never expected it to be like this though.

He's heard a lot of talk about how arrogant humans were, how they'll likely treat any Digimon they come across. Sure, nobody he's ever eavesdropped on has ever met a real human, but then, it's pretty well known that the Sovereign of these lands despises humans with a passion, so it's likely that a lot of those rumours might just be spread by the Devas spreading Zhuqiaomon thoughts on the matter.

But then he considers what Naruto told him of his home, of how Naruto had been an orphan and nobody seemed to care if Naruto lived or died, he could read between the lines a heck of a lot better now then when he was Dorimon. But during the he's spent with the kid, he hadn't seen anything that indicates that the blond desired that treatment and it also seemed that Naruto was pretty ignorant of where he is and how to proceed. He knew that things would change and if the Devas don't get him one way or another, some more powerful Digimon would likely lay claim on the blond and he's kind of sure that would be a bad thing.

Once more his mind goes back to whether or not he should partner up with the blond. _'We click.'_ He muses as he pretty much sums up one of his primary consideration for going through with the partnership that Naruto represents.

It doesn't hurt that just spending one night with the blond and he Digivolved into his rookie form either. He was also eager to know if he could get stronger just by hanging around the whisker boy, to see if he could turn the tables on those that once hunted him, to become the hunter. A part of him had watched how Naruto moved as the blond lead him to the river, how Naruto moved with a grace of a cat type Digimon and seemed to make as much noise as a ninja type Digimon.

That part of himself approved of the blond, telling him that there was much that the blond could teach him, and that same part told him that the blue eyed boy would match him in power as well. He didn't understand what last bit was about, but it kind of reassured him that Naruto could hold his own if things went from bad to worst. It likely helped that he had seen Naruto's skill with that throwing knife too.

"I think the fish are done." The blond says and this snaps him out of his thoughts, his stomach growls in approval, much to his embarrassment and the boy's amusement. He blinks as he finds a stick with a fish speared through it was being held out for him, he nods his thanks and takes it from Naruto's hand.

It wasn't long before he's eaten both of his fish and was kind of eyeing Naruto's second fish since Naruto's being careful as he ate his first. He tries to look away, knowing that the third fish was Naruto's and not his. "You can have it; you likely need it more then I do." Naruto says and he glances up into the blond's face for a few seconds.

"Are you sure?" He asks and the blond nods, waving his free hand towards the final fish. "Thanks!" He chirps out and within seconds he's downed the remaining fish.

"I guess you guy eat a heck of a lot more then I do, huh?" The blond asks in amusement. "Well, I am a growing monster." He replies, he enjoys having an almost full stomach. Naruto hums in agreement.

He throws a few more twigs into the fire which causes the flame dancing within to leap and then devour the bits of new wood. He kind of wished there were some data packets around but then, the Gotsumon probably goes around collecting them to use as they see fit.

He notices how built Naruto was, sure, Naruto is the first human that he's ever met but he could tell that Naruto had more muscle then fat. He wonders if all humans were as slender looking as the blond. Though when the blond was wearing that orange jumper, it was kind of hard to notice what kind of build the boy had, but now without the bulky cloths, he had a pretty go idea of how truthful Naruto's story was. He doubts that it's a good thing that he could see hints of Naruto's ribcage, though in the end, he kind of gave up trying to decide on how healthy the blond whisker boy was since he's not an expert on humans and there weren't any around to decide if Naruto was typical of human his age.

"So, what do you plan on doing now?" Naruto asks him and he blinks, he glances up into the blond's blue eyes as he thinks of how to answer that. "I don't really have any plans for the future." He admits to the human sitting a few feet away.

"Yea, me too, though I guess I should try to find a way to travel to the human world. I'll probably get kind of tired of hordes of Digimon trying to get a piece of me, literally and figuratively." Naruto jokes with an easy going grin on his face. He snorts as he nods his head in agreement as he can see that happen.

"You know, I won't object to helping you with that." He says after a few seconds of silence between them. "And I wouldn't mind having you around." Naruto says.

Just after Naruto said that, a ball of light appears to descend down into the blond's hands. He cranks his head as much as he can as the light fades, allowing some kind of device to be revealed. The main colour of the item was blood red with dark coloured grey for buttons and some odd symbols around the screen of the device though there is a circle of white that is kind of between the buttons of the device. He watches interest as Naruto examines the device, even flipping it to get a look at the back of it.

"Hey, it gives me the time and the date too. Though I'm not sure what else it does." Naruto says after playing around with the buttons. He shrugs, though he does point out, "Well, whatever it is, it's got to be important or it wouldn't have appeared, right?" Naruto nods and he grins slightly, feeling that they now have proof that they were Tamer and Digimon.

- o 0 o -

Readers:

Here's what I've been working on most of the spring time and summer. Look for the next chapter next month, November 14th.


	2. Chapter 2

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Sandaime Hokage**

**Hidden Leaf**

Once more the council had submitted, AKA demanded, that Naruto Uzumaki be ranked as either an A or S ranked missing nin. Since he was alone in the office, he sighs as he crumbles up the request and tossed it into the trash can. He leans his forehead on the palm of his left hand as the elbow rests on the desk as his right hand was moving towards his pipe that's in one of his robe pockets.

As he's about to lit his pipe, there's a knock at the door. "Come in, Kakashi." He says, he's been expecting the man for some time. The silver haired member of the ANBU opens the door and comes inside of his office. Once the door is closed, the mask wearing nin stands at attention.

"Lord Hokage, sir, just returned from Hidden Sand and there isn't any sign of Naruto in or around the village." Kakashi informs him. He rests his elbow onto the desk, weaves his fingers together, and leans slightly forward, his pipe forgotten for the moment.

'_I knew he wouldn't find anything. It seems that wherever you are, Naruto, you're beyond our reach.'_ He muses and after a few seconds he asks, "On another note, did you encounter anything of interest while you were there?"

"There was this one kid living in Hidden Sand that is some cause for concern." Kakashi says after a few seconds. He motions for Kakashi to continue and the man does so. "His name is Gaara and quite frankly, the people of Hidden Sand are terrified of him." Kakashi states and he raises an eyebrow on hearing that.

"Oh?" He muses and Kakashi nods slightly as he continues, "From what I've gathered, the Kazekage ordered that their demon, Shukaku, to be sealed into his youngest son, Gaara. The man intended to turn his youngest son into a living weapon, but from the sound of things, Gaara's highly unstable. It's likely that the seal used wasn't strong enough to block the demon's influence since my source claims that whenever Gaara falls asleep, the demon takes over Gaara's body and goes on a rampage until someone manages to wake Gaara up or when Gaara wakes up on his own."

He feels a headache coming on, but he nods slightly. "I've heard rumours that my counterpart in the land of Winds had done something with the demon they have in their procession. It would seem that we can expect trouble from Hidden Sand in the future." He states and he knows that Kakashi seems to agree with his observation.

He rests his right arm on the desk and then with his left hand, he picks up his pipe. As he takes out his tobacco pouch and puts a pinch into his pipe. Then as he holds the pipe in his hand, his free hand takes out a set of matches. With ease, he lights the match and carefully moves the match stick to where his tobacco is. Once that's lit, he flicks the match stick, extinguishing the flare on the wooden stick. He tosses it into the trash can as he takes a puff of his pipe.

"Do you really think we'll find him, sir?" Kakashi asks after a few minutes. "I doubt we will, somebody has taken interest in Naruto and it's unlikely that person will reveal who he is until he's confident that he has the upper hand. For now, I think I'll call of the search parties; as we're starting to get a slight pile up of missions that need to be attended to." He answers, though he wishes to locate the blond, he gets the feeling that for now, the next move belongs to whoever Naruto is with at this time.

He casually dismisses the captain of Hidden Leaf's ANBU, getting up from his chair; he turns to face the cliff face. His gaze drifts to the fourth stone face carved in the cliff. _'It would seem that your son has learnt of the burden he carries. I wonder if he hates me for keeping it from him.'_ He thinks as he stares that the Yondaime, Minato Namikaze also known as the Konaha's Yellow Flash.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

It's been a week since Dorumon and him had become partners and so far, Dorumon was getting use to the idea that he can use his chakra to fuel jutsus. Dorumon often remarks that he's like some kind of hybrid in the fact that he could match the power of most Digimon that were under the categories of Champion and under. He's still kind of learning about the different levels that Digimon can achieve but then, it seems kind of natural that as a Digimon gets stronger, it moves up a level.

He glares at one of the Gotsumon, though it had been an accident, his cloths were now officially ruined since there is a large hole in the middle of his jumper; his pants have a bunch of mini holes as well. Standing before the group of very young Gotsumon, they had been playing some kind of game and had been using his short cloths line as some kind of goal post, hence why his cloths sport so many holes.

"Now what am I suppose to wear?" He asks the group of five Gotsumon. Dorumon was standing slightly behind him, likely a bit amused about these turn of events since in the end, it wasn't because of his training regiment that destroyed his jumper but a pack of rookie Digimon.

The group of five Gotsumon glance at each other, clearly hoping that one of them has an answer before as one, they turn to him and shrug their rocky shoulders. "Don't know, boss. Maybe if you're good some Digi-Gnomes will bring you some replacement cloths?" One of the Gotsumon suggests and he gives that one a blank look.

"You know, glowing flyers that make miracles happen?" One of the other Gotsumon pipes in. He sighs; he was beginning to sympathize with old man Hokage when it came to dealing with the results of his pranks. "Oh yea, like some kind of magical fae will magically appear and drop a pack of things before me right now, at this instance." He says sarcastically… only to have a purple backpack appear out of nowhere before him and drop onto the sandy ground between him and the Gotsumon.

"…" Nobody really knew what to say as they eyed the purple backpack. At the sound of chimes going off over head, he and the others glance upwards to see three flying glowing beings circling over head.

"Tell me I'm not losing it, Dorumon." He says to his Digimon partner and the purple monster answers, "You're not losing it, Naruto."

With that having been said, the group of three fae like beings rise high into the air before vanishing from sight. After a few minutes, he finally looks back at the backpack that seems to be overflowing with stuff in it. He also looks down at his hands to find that the ruined top half of his jumper was gone and a quick look around informed him that the rest of his ruined cloths were gone as well.

With a sigh, he bends down and opens the purple backpack. The first thing that greeted him was some kind of belt that has some kind of pouch threaded on it. He picks up the pouch and opens it only to find a deck of cards. He closes the cloth deck holder and takes out the article of clothing that the belt and card deck were resting on.

The item was a dark blue vest that had some inner pockets to it. He sets that aside and notices a brown coloured shirt with a pair of pants that were made out of a material he's never seen before. He also notices a pair of sunglasses at the bottom with some kind of passport with two plastic cards. He opens the passport and finds a bit of his information written in it as well as a pretty good picture of himself.

It takes him about a moment to realise that under this stuff was two books that were leather bound, one was modern history for a land call Japan and other was some kind of dictionary. _'It would seem I'm expected to read these two books. I wonder why…'_ He muses as he picks up the history book and flips to a random page, one that has a picture of a bunch of odd objects with wheeling on a black top road with tall glass building on either side of the street.

A glance at what's written on the page told him that if he were of a mind to, he's able to read the letters printed on the page. He glances at the picture and then notes that there's something written under it. _'This photo was taken at the corner of Houji Street and Hai crescent in downtown Toshiba.'_ He muses before returning to looking at the picture.

"So that's what a human city looks like, huh?" He stiffens on hearing one of the Gotsumon say so close to his ear. He sighs as he glances out of the corner of his eyes to see that even Dorumon was curious about the picture that's printed in the book. "Yea, it is. It's from a corner from a city called Toshiba." He says, wondering if anybody other then him could read what's printed in the book.

He then flips through the book again and this time, he finds some kind of map that shows a group of islands with dots on it. He notices that there are some names by the islands as well as names by the dots. It would seem that this was what Japan was and what islands surround it. The largest island is Japan and he notices that the legend at the top left corner told which dot represented the capital and which were just cities, he's slightly surprise to see that the major roads were also marked on the map.

He flips to a random page once more and raises an eyebrow at the temple that's depicted as well as the other pictures showing more of the temple's ground, some of the pictures were taken during different seasons too. He has to admit, the temple looks to be in pretty good shape, especially if the little bits of information were correct that this temple was well over a hundred years old. He's never really visited one of the temples that Hidden Leaf had, but he would bet all those stolen scrolls that the temple pictured in these two pages outclassed the few temples that Hidden Leaf sported.

"What's that white stuff?" One of the Gotsumon asks as someone points to one of the picture with one of their rocky fingers. "It is call snow; it usually falls during the season of winter, though it's been known to fall out of season." He informs the group and a round of 'Ohs' and 'Ahs' follow once he says that.

It takes some time, but soon the Gotsumon were called away by their parents, well, he thinks that those that are calling them are related to the group. Once they're not crouched around him, he stands up. After a moment of stretching, he hands the closed book to Dorumon just encase his partner wanted to look through the book while he's getting dressed.

Once he's done getting the cloths on, Dorumon looks him over before a slight grin appears on the purple rookie's muzzle and nods in approval. "That suits you way better then that orange jumper." Dorumon say with a bit of cheerfulness in his partner's voice.

"You think so?" He asks and walks over to the river to take a better look at himself by using the water as a makeshift mirror. He's slightly surprised to note how tough the material that the pants were made out of were and wonders what the name of the material was called as he admires himself in the river.

He turns away from the river and then begins to strap his leg pouch on using the bandages that he still has in his possession. He then picks up his belt pouch and the new belt that has that card deck lopped in. He threads the belt through the loops stitched around sections around the waist, only pausing to thread his belt pouch onto the belt before doing up the belt.

"You know, you could do with a hair cut." Dorumon muses as the purple Digimon watches as he messes up his hair so it'll spike up. "Oh? I highly doubt you're qualified to use scissors let alone cut hair." He says sourly and Dorumon snorts, clearly not taken back by his sour tone.

Though they've been together for about a week, they've come to understand that though they might snap at each other, they only do so because the other was the only one around for them to take the frustration out on. The only really heated argument that they had so far had to do with him trying to get Dorumon to try to race up that slab of stone that he uses to mark his progress into learning how to walk on vertical surfaces by channelling chakra into his feet. Dorumon won the argument by pointing out that he wasn't suited to using his chakra and that they're not even sure if Digimon had chakra paths because they're artificial creatures made of data, he still doesn't know what data consists of and because of this lack of knowledge he let the matter drop.

He picks up the pair of yellow tinted sunglasses and puts them on his face before stuffing the other book, the passport, and the two plastic cards into the backpack. He shoulders the pack and with a glance towards Dorumon, they head back to his cavern. He pauses as he receives memories from one of the group of shadow clones who finished perfecting one of the jutsus that he has on a scroll.

Once in sight of the cavern, the other teams of shadow clones puff out of existence which leaves him to inherit their memories of how far along they were before they expired. He moves the pair of sunglasses off his face and rests them on his forehead before heading into the comforting shade of the cave. He glances over his shoulder to find that as Dorumon was walking, the fluffy purple Digimon had his snout in that history book, though his partner manages to pull himself out of the book every so often to make sure he doesn't stumble along the path.

Once within the cave, he sets the purple backpack next to the bag of scrolls before resting on his favourite rock. He notices that Dorumon keeps to the cave entrance so that he'd have a good source of light in which to look through the book. He looks thoughtful as he watches his partner flip a page.

"Can you read what's written in the book?" He asks after a few minutes and Dorumon doesn't say anything as he shakes his head. "So you're just looking at the pictures then?" He asks and Dorumon nods, he can't suppress grin from his face and then he glances into at the purple backpack, wondering if he should see if he can't find out what data, digital, and maybe even see if there is anything in the dictionary about Digimon as well.

Once he has the book out, he frowns as he realises that the book opens in the wrong direction, it would seem that the book goes from right to left instead of left to right like a proper book. _'Come to think about, the history book is like that too…'_ He muses as he walks towards the cave entrance so he can take a look through the dictionary.

As he mentally sounds out the word 'data' he searches for the word list starting with the letter D. It takes a few minutes but in the end, he finds the word:

**Data****:** pronunciation: \'da-ta, function: _noun plural but singular or plural in construction_, usage: _often attributive_

1 **:** factual information (as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation the _data_ is plentiful and easily available — H. A. Gleason, Jr. comprehensive _data_ on economic growth have been published — N. H. Jacoby

2 **:** information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful

3 **:** information in numerical form that can be digitally transmitted or processed

He blinks as he stares down at the page with a very puzzled look on his face. _'… That doesn't even explain anything, let alone help me understand how Digimon and data are connected!'_ He thinks as a scowl erupts on his face as he completes that though.

With a sigh, he then begins to look through the book for the word 'digital.' As he sounds it out, he does find it after what seems to be an hour of searching under the letter D.

**Digital****:** pronunciation: \'di-jə-təl\, function: _adjective_

1**:** of or relating to the fingers or toes _digital_ dexterity

2**:** done with a finger a _digital_ rectal examination

3**:** of, relating to, or using calculation by numerical methods or by discrete units

4**:** of, relating to, or being data in the form of especially binary digits _digital_ images a _digital_ readout; _especially_ **:** of, relating to, or employing digital communications signals a _digital_ broadcast — compare analog 2

5**:** providing a readout in numerical digits a _digital_ voltmeter

6**:** relating to an audio recording method in which sound waves are represented digitally (as on magnetic tape) so that in the recording wow and flutter are eliminated and background noise is reduced

7**:** electronic _digital_ devices; _also_ **:** characterized by electronic and especially computerized technology the _digital_ age

His eyebrow twitches as he closes the book; he had already looked before the word 'digital' in hopes of locating the word 'Digimon' but there doesn't seem to be any such word. He takes deep breathes in hopes of calming himself down seeing as he's really ready to attack something in frustration.

"Something wrong?" Dorumon asks as if suddenly sensing his emotions. "This book is incomplete. I looked up the words data, digital, and then tried to locate the word Digimon but all I found was the first two and they didn't say anything about how they connect to Digimon. So now, I really want something to take out my frustration on." He tells his purple furred partner Digimon in a very tense tone.

"I see." Was pretty much the sum of Dorumon's reaction to his frustration with the book that's resting in his left hand since his right hand is now balled fist into a resting on his hip. He takes a few deep breaths and forces his right hand to relax.

In the end, Dorumon hands him the history book with the promise that he'd read out loud to him. He takes the book and after looking through the table of contains, he goes to chapter one and begins reading out loud to Dorumon. After a few paragraphs, he finds that what's written within was really interesting.

As he finishes the first chapter, night falls and he takes out one of the cards from his card deck and uses it as a bookmark. Dorumon gets to his feet and begins to stretch as he heads into the cave. Yawning, he takes off his new cloths with the exception of his boxers, and just stares at the spot he usually sleeps in.

'_Where did this futon come from?'_ He wonders as he stares down at the mattress that's next to a thick looking blanket. "Hey, Dorumon, did you wish for a blanket or something?" He calls out to his partner. "Maybe… Why?" The purple rookie calls back.

As Dorumon comes up behind him, he glances at Dorumon before returning to look at the thick blanket. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that blanket belongs to you." He says and out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that Dorumon seemed pleased with this.

So, as Dorumon curls up into his customary ball, he takes the blanket and covers the Digimon with it. Once that's done, he heads to his futon and covers himself with the light blanket that goes with it. He lies comfortably on the futon, already enjoying the fact that he has something much more comfortable then a small pile of stones.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Four days later**

As he admires the view from the top of the measuring stone, he hears a deafening roar and he spins around to see a serpent with a white head and ratty red leather wings. The clipped device begins to beep and as soon as he unclips it, an image of the Digimon appears hovering over the screen. _'Cool…'_

**Airdramon**

Level: Champion

Attribute: Vaccine

Attacks: Spinning Needle, God Tornado, Wing Cutter, and Tail Attack

Mythical type. Although he has a rough temperament, this phantom Digimon is actually very intelligent. This mysterious Digimon is close to a god!

"I think he's heading right towards us." Dorumon says as he blinks as he looks down to where his partner is standing; it seems that Dorumon has paused in his target practicing to see what Digimon bellowed out that challenge. As reclips his Digivice onto his belt loop, he leaps off the stone slab; the feeling of satisfaction at finally managing to prefect using chakra to climb up the sides of the rock vanishes at this new challenge.

"So, you think we're ready to take somebody like that on?" He asks his partner. "I'd say bring it on!" The purple rookie declares as he flares the tiny wings on his back as well as raises his tail to balance out thrusting his head forward.

He grins fondly at his partner before turning away and allowing the grin to fade as a look of determination replace it. "Let's go." He says and they begin to walk towards the flying Digimon that's just appeared in the valley.

"Race ya!" Dorumon shouts a moment before the rookie takes off at a dead run. "Damn it, Dorumon! Give a guy a few moments warning before you say something like that!" He cries out as he, too, goes from walking into a run in order to catch up to his partner.

"Metal Shoot!" His partner cries out as Airdramon dives towards his partner. The sound waves cause the blue snake like Digimon to cry out in pain for a few seconds, clearly the attack only seems to spur the champion level Digimon on as it hovers and spears its head out, tries to bite his partner.

"Metal Cannon!" Dorumon says after coming out of a roll. The attack hits one of Airdramon's eyes. Airdramon pulls away shaking his head and then Airdramon snarls as the champion Digimon glares down at Dorumon.

"You fight well, for a rookie." The champion growls out and then adds, "But that's not going matter since once I load your data, I'll then be able to travel to the real world. So prepare yourself, rookie!"

"He can talk?" He mutters in surprise but within an eye blink the larger Digimon shouts out, "Wing Cutter." Dorumon manages to duck out of the blunt of the attack but is still sent flying through the air.

He frowns as he watches Dorumon land roughly on the ground. "Ok, this is going well." He states sarcastically. His hand goes to his hip to get to his pouch that's wrapped around his hip although his hand touches the card deck. He sighs, though he frowns as he takes out the cards, it's the first time he really looked at them.

As Dorumon gets to his feet, he notices a modify card called Burning Wing. He does know why but he picks it out of the line up and puts the rest of the cards away. As Dorumon uses Metal Cannon in rapid section, he glares down at the card as he's unsure what caused him to take out his card deck but also pick out this modify car.

He flips it around in his hand; a slight frown replaces the glare as he studies the back of the card. A slight chiming sound next to where his device is causes him to look away from the card to see one of those fairy creatures that one of those Gotsumon had talked about a few days ago. The being was holding out his Digivice to him with that odd slit facing him.

"You got to be kidding me…" He says as he realises that there was a stripe on the side of the card and if what the glowing being was hinting at… "You mean it's kind of like teach Dorumon instant jutsus, huh?" He muses and the glowing fairy like being chimes happily in replies.

He takes the Digivice in his other hand and glancing towards the battle between Dorumon and Airdramon, he sighs. "This had better work…" He mutters softly to himself and as he slashing the card through the device.

"Digi-modify! Aero Wing activate." He declares without realising that he's shouting that out. He watches as the card's effects take hold. "Wow." He says as Dorumon's wings expand and then turn into a pair of scaly blue wings, with a leap into the air, Dorumon is flying straight at the surprised champion Digimon.

"Dash Metal!" Dorumon shouts out and as the attack rockets towards Airdramon, the flying serpent manages to snap out of its shock. The blue Digimon manages to evade most of the attack although the attack hits the champion's left wing, causing it to freeze up.

This causes the champion Digimon to become grounded and as Dorumon hovers about two feet above the ground, the card's effects vanish, grounding his Digimon partner. Just as Dorumon touches down his partner uses Metal Shoot. Airdramon screams and his purple partner rams into Airdramon's chest.

As Airdramon tries to hit Dorumon with its tail, Dorumon manages to use Dash Metal on Airdramon's other wing, causing it to freeze up. It seems that Dorumon did it just in time since the left wing seems to unfreeze a few seconds later. Airdramon growls in annoyance before calling out, "Spinning Needle!"

Dorumon gets the blunt of the attack and falls face forward. "Dorumon!" He calls out, charging towards his injured partner, not caring about his safety. "Naruto? Naruto! Go back!" Dorumon calls out when the purple rookie realizes that he's racing towards him.

"Like Hell I will!" He growls out and he evades Airdramon's tail. He uses a bit of chakra and leaps through the air, landing next to Dorumon. "This is my fight!" Dorumon growls out as the rookie tries to stand up. The gem on Dorumon's head seems to shine slightly as Dorumon tries to remain standing.

"Yea right, like I'm just going to stand around while you get the snot beat out of you." He states as he looks fiercely into Dorumon's amber eyes. "I'm not going to let this Teme get the best of me!" Dorumon snaps at him and the gem flashes brightly before it goes back to the way it usual is.

He blinks as he notices that all of Dorumon's injures have healed. "Now step back and let me do this." The purple furred Digimon snaps at him. "Sure thing, buddy." He says with a grin on his face before walking backwards, feeling highly relieved that Dorumon's injures were a thing of the pass.

With a slight nod, Dorumon turns away to face Airdramon. "So, that's the power of a Tamer and his pet Digimon, huh? Once I get to the real world I'll have to remember to find myself the strongest humans around." Airdramon muses after watching the touching scene between them.

"Even if you survive this fight, I highly doubt you'll find someone willing to look pass that ugly mug of your's to become your partner willing. Hope you enjoyed the show, now you'll be paying the admission!" Dorumon snaps and then let's loose a Metal Cannon attack.

The attack hits the white skull helmet that's protecting Airdramon's head. A slight crack tells him just how much power Dorumon's able to summon. Airdramon then counters by calling out, "God Tornado!" The twister blasts the area where Dorumon had been, it would seem that Dorumon's speed has increased since Dorumon's speed healing occurred.

"Metal Shoot!" The purple rookie calls out as soon as Dorumon is within five feet of Airdramon. This attack always seemed to cause Airdramon the most pain and this time it wasn't the exception either. With Airdramon in so much pain from the sound attack, it allows Dorumon to get behind the champion level Digimon. "Metal Cannon!" Dorumon cries out and the attack hits right behind the Digimon's skull, causing the champion to hit the ground flat on its face.

"Metal Shoot!" Dorumon calls out and this attack finishes Airdramon. Before his eyes, Airdramon's whole body seem to break down and as he glances towards Dorumon, wondering if he's going to watch a Digimon load another Digimon's data. Dorumon doesn't look any different as Airdramon's particulars float up into the sky, scattering the higher they go until nothing's left.

Dorumon heaves a huge sigh before falling forward onto the ground. He races forward, worried that the battle was too much for his partner. He slows down as he hears Dorumon's snores; a fond smile breaks across his face as he slows down. He kneels down and strokes the fur between Dorumon's ears.

"You did great, Dorumon. Though, we should have started off with somebody around rookie level first. Oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." He says and then he moves so that he could easily carry his partner on his back. He moves his partner carefully as not to wake him up.

Channelling a bit of chakra into his scrawny muscles, he stands up carefully and then slowly heads back to the caves as he bares the burden of Dorumon's weight. _'Well, this is good endurance training.'_ He muses to himself, looking on the positive side of things as he carries his sleeping partner through the heated valley. A slight smile fixed on his face as he feels a great deal of pride in the fact that Dorumon had defeated the more powerful with a bit of help from him.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

As he wakes from a refreshing sleep, he tries to remember what caused him to become exhausted in the first place. He jerks up as he recalls his fight with Airdramon. It takes him a moment to realize where he's at; he frowns as he realizes that his partner must have carried him here.

"Hey, where's the original Naruto at?" He calls out to one of the shadow clones of the blond human that he calls his Tamer. Most of the ten clone pause for a second before some of them shrugging and other muttering that they don't know and then return to working on whatever jutsu that's written on their scroll.

He scowls and then gets up off the floor. He stalks out of the cave and it's not long before he finds Naruto reading the dictionary since it's the thicker of the two books. "You're looking better, had a good rest?" The blond human asks without looking up from the book.

"I can't believe you dragged me all the way here." He growls and at that the whisker cheeked boy frowns as the blond looks up. "I didn't drag you, I carried you. I channelled some chakra into my muscles and carried you on my back. Do you really thing that I'd drag you after such a big fight? I was totally hot and sweaty by the time I got here. I'm not sure how you stand it, having that much fur in this kind of climate." The blond says and though the blue eyed boy can't see it through his purple fur, he flushes on hearing that.

"Err, sorry, I just assumed that… well, you're not very muscular you know." He stutters out and his Tamer gives him a dazzling smile. In the blond's sparkling blue eyes, he can see a flicker of understanding for a few seconds before Naruto returns to reading the book before him. "No problem, I know I'm scrawny but you got to remember that I'm not like your typical human. I'm not limited to physical means." The blond adds airily and he snorts at the tone that his Tamer is using.

"Guess so. Guess so." He muses as he studies the human before him. With a sigh, he settles next to Naruto and when the blond moves the book off of his lap, he rests his head on it. As the blond begins to stroke his neck, his Tamer hums some nameless song that the blond most likely hear but can't remember real well.

'_Life is good.'_ He muses as they remain in that position until nightfall. He knows he's not the only one who enjoys the comforting physical contact from someone that he trusts. He wishes that life could always be like what it is at this moment and until things are forced to change, he's going to enjoy this peaceful life while it lasts since he knew that when the time comes, their peaceful existence will shatter as powerful Digimon begin to appear in their life and make life difficult for them both.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Age: 12**

"Metal Shoot!" Dorumon shouts and the sound waves cause the viral Garurumon to howl in pain. As soon as the canine Digimon lets go of Dorumon's tail, his partner dashes away from the black and white Digimon.

Once Garurumon finishes shaking its head, the beast glares at the purple rookie. A slight grin appears on his face as Dorumon's red gem flashes, causing his partner's injures to vanish as the light fades. Although when Dorumon finishes this guy off, he knew that Dorumon will fall fast asleep as a side-effect of the instant healing that the gem causes in the middle of battle.

Though today is his birthday, the party that Dorumon and the valley's Gotsumon had arranged had been interrupted by this rampaging Garurumon. This would be the eighth champion level Digimon to invade the rocky valley since Airdramon, coming all this way to load Dorumon's data in hopes of a gate leading to the real world would open up. It seems that there's this rumour circulating around the Digital world that if you load a Tamer's partner's data, you get an instant passport into the real world.

Though the number of rookies that had come calling was much higher then the number of champion level Digimon by four. Still, ever since that day in May, the number of Digimon seeking them out had been steadily increasing in frequency. Though this was the first time that a champion had attacked the Gotsumon residing in the valley…

"Metal Cannon!" Dorumon cries out as his partner leaps over the charging black coloured canine Digimon. The attack hits Garurumon in the back of the head and causes the champion to lose its balance for a few seconds, this allows Dorumon to move a few feet away from the rampaging viral champion.

"Howling Blaster!" The black coloured Garurumon howls out and Dorumon manages to evade this range attack. He takes out a modify card.

"Digi-modify! Metal Attack!" He shouts as he slashes the card through his Digivice. "Dash Metal!" Dorumon roars as the card takes effect. The attack freezes the viral Garurumon solid and one Metal Cannon later, the damage to the village, a sleeping Dorumon, and data particles were all that remained of the battle between his partner and the powerful champion Digimon.

"Err, I guess the party's over before it's started." He says as one of the elder Gotsumon comes up to him, he scratches the back of his head as he waits to hear a response. "Well, we did manage to keep most of the gifts from getting damaged." The elder muses and he perks.

"I got presents? Cool, thanks old man... Err or is that old mon?" He says and kind of laughs nervously at the end of saying that. Although it seems that the elder isn't offended by his slip, the elder seem more amused then anything, although he does muse on whether or not this elder is a guy nor not since it's kind of hard to tell with Digimon. Although he finds it's easier to categorize stranger Digimon under the title of it since its more then likely that the stranger won't last beyond the battle.

"Yes you do, and either title's fine." The Gotsumon elder tells him and he nods. "So, do you need any help rebuilding?" He asks as some Gotsumon manage to put a pillow under Dorumon's head with a bit of help from another Gotsumon.

The elder sighs as he shakes his head. "No, no, no, we'll do it ourselves, young one. It was enough that you keep him from deleting any of the villagers." The old mon says and he sighs, but he wasn't about to try and change the elder's mind.

As the elder motions for him to follow, he does so as the villagers of the valley begin to repair their homes. Many of the villagers smile at him and some even wave as they walk pass; he gets mixed feelings about that as he follows the elder to the council building. On one hand, it's nice to know that they don't blame him for the attack but then on the other hand, he feels guilty for endangering them by remaining in the valley.

"You shouldn't feel guilty about the damage caused to our village, Naruto. This kind of damage can be repair or replaced. But you can't replace a life." The elder tells him as they reach the building, he ducks down so he can enter.

"I guess so. It's just that… If Dorumon and I weren't still hanging about…" He trails off and looks away from the gifts resting on the large table.

"This is the Digital world, boy. Many Digimon live solely by the code survival of the fittest and they then spent their whole lives fighting one battle after another. We've had to deal with those types in the past and will likely deal with them again in the future." The elder Gotsumon says firmly.

He sighs but he kind of gets what the elder is saying. His guilt lightens on hearing that. He smiles slightly as he says to the elder, "Thanks, I guess I really needed to hear that."

He then grazes at the gifts on the table; he can't believe that all of those were meant for him. He feels a lump appear in his throat as his eyes sting slightly from unshed tears. "It's up to you on whether or not you want to start unwrapping them. We'll help you take them to your cave when you're ready to go." The elder tells him and he can't reply so he just nods.

He walks up to the table, careful not to bang his head on the ceiling and then sits down by the table. A glance towards the doors tells him that the elder had left and he sighs. He debates for a few minutes on what to do and in the end, he decides he might as well enjoy his birthday for once in his life and begins to open the gifts that number around twelve.

The first gift is a pair of runners that were grey and blue in colour. He glances down at his sandals; he sighs and sets the runners to the side before reaching for one of the two smaller gift bundles. He unwraps the gift and finds three pairs of white socks as contains. He smiles and shakes his head as he puts the socks over top of his new pair of runners.

The third gift was the other small gift and he finds two pairs of boxers, one is purple with a red paw print on the right butt cheek and the second is blue with thin grey stripes. As he sets them over his runners, he can't help but be highly amused by the gift. He then takes a stack of five packages that he'll bet were books just by the look of them.

He picks the heaviest book and opens it. It seems that it's a book listing myths and legends from around the world, well, from around the human world connected to this Digital one. He also notices that the book goes right to left, just like the other two books he owns. He moves onto another book that's wrapped up and finds a biology text book.

With a shrug he sets the text book over top of the one containing stories and picks out another package that's shaped like a book. This one turned out to be a cook book and the next one turns out to be another cook book except that it's about desserts. The final book turned out to be a manga containing something titled Wolf's Rain and like a proper book, it reads left to right.

Once he's done with the gift of books, he begins to eye the rest of the four remaining gifts. He's kind of surprised to notices that there really were twelve gifts… With a sigh, he picks up a flexible package and once he opens it, finds a black windbreaker with wild red and orange flame designs on the sleeves and on the back of the jacket. Inside of the pockets was a pair of dark red and orange fingerless gloves that he's seen Jounin wear.

He picks up the remaining three and by the time he's done opening them up, he's got another pair of pants like the ones he's got on, a dark red vest to match his gloves, and finally a dull yellow long sleeve shirt with a red Japanese dragon fighting a white tiger. He sighs as a warm tingly feeling resides within his chest area.

All in all, this had been the best birthday he's ever had and he knew that he had made the right choice in leaving his world behind him. True, he feels a bit guilty about taking off with the Forbidden scroll, but in his opinion, it's safer with him then back in the village. After all, if he could steal it then just about any enemy ninja could have.

- o 0 o -

Here's chapter 2 like I promised!


	3. Chapter 3

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Daemon**

**Dark Ocean**

He's finally recovered enough to reopen the tear between realms so he might see how the blond boy is doing. He had been quite surprised to see that the boy seems to be flourishing in the lands of the phoenix member of the Digimon sovereigns. He had been highly stunned by the boy's partner as well; he hadn't expected to see an X-Antibody Digimon, its more then likely that the Dorumon had been a Dorimon who likely met up with the blond and being with the boy allowed the In-Training Digimon to by pass the usual restrictions in place to keep such Digimon from continuing along their natural X-Antibody evolution.

Though he's kind of surprised that between them, Dorumon has yet to Digivolve into his champion form. He had thought that by now, just seeing how much the pair has bonded together, they'd be ready to achieve ultimate stage instead of hanging around at the rookie level. Either something is slowly retracting the power of Digivolution from that Digital world or the pair feel more comfortable keeping to the rookie stage, it's too early to tell which it was at this point.

With a slight twinge of his hand, the energy tear alters to show him the blond's home realm, specifically the ninja academy that was in session. He studies the room filled with preteens for a few minutes before focusing in on Sasuke. _'One of the most power hungry humans I've laid eyes on.'_ He muses, true Neo was similar and to an extent so had Ken, but unlike the two of them, Sasuke's goal was to kill his only remaining relative while the other two only wanted to be the best.

He knew that all it would take is a slight demonstration of what a Digimon could do and the boy wouldn't just want to partner up with one, but to be partnered up with one that matched Sasuke's ambitions. _'Likely a Digimon of the Devimon type would suit the boy, they have a tenancy to be heartless and prefer those who are like minded.'_ He muses as he watches the preteen listen to his teacher discuss a bit of jutsu theory.

It wouldn't take much to set the boy after the blond either, just mention that the demon container had some rare and highly dangerous scrolls in his procession and the brat would be on the blond's trail in a heart beat. Although, it was tempting, he doubted that Sasuke would be a match for Naruto, even with a partner Digimon at the champion level. The blond had plenty of time to practice and to prefect what he's learnt in the scrolls.

Although the village where Naruto grew up considered the blond to be an idiot prankster doesn't mean anything since their view point was highly biased by the fact that the boy has a demon sealed within. From bits of conversation he heard while the boy was learning the shadow clone jutsu, he knew that the boy regularly managed to give the elites of the village a run for their money by leading them on a merrily chase around the village for up to three hours before the boy's academy teacher would get involved and the boy would allow the teacher to capture him. The boy just needed access to some jutsu scrolls and the boy would stop at nothing until he's learnt and mastered the jutsu before moving onto the next scroll, something that he's been doing since he got to that Digital world.

All in all, he just needs to wait for the right moment before revealing his existence to the Uchiha. It would also help that before doing so, he'd find a Digimon that wouldn't just suit the boy, but also one that would obey him as well. After all, what happened between Neo and himself proved that when working with a human, it's best to be prepared for everything, especially betrayal.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

As he stands at the bank of the calm pool, his hands forming a seal, he focuses chakra into his feet. Once he feels the usual tingle flowing through his soles, he relaxes and walks forward towards the water. He keeps concentrating on the flow of chakra going to the soles of his feet as he steps onto the water's surface.

His right foot lands on the surface and causes small ripples to bounce around within the water. Once he's sure that his foot's not going to falter, he puts his weight on his right leg and moves his left foot onto the water's surface. Although he's standing likely less then a centimetre or two above the sandy beach, he can't help but feel satisfied considering this is his first day trying out this exercise on using his chakra to allow him to walk on the water's surface.

The reason why he's trying this out isn't from learning about it from one of the scrolls he has in his possession but from an old incident from when he was eight and hiding by a river. He had witnessed a sparring session between two genin and had seen one of them land on the river's surface after leaping out of the way of a bunch of mini fire balls flying towards that genin. They had been interrupted by a threesome who were searching for him and had stopped the fight for a few moments in order to ask if they've seen him, of course they hadn't and by then, the ninja that had been on the river was back on solid ground by the time the search party left and the spar started up once more.

He hadn't thought too much of what he witnessed that day until after he learnt about using one's chakra to walk up and down walls or tree trunks without using one's arms and hands. Just cover the soles of one's feet in chakra and the chakra will help keep your feet clinging to the side of the walk or tree trunk or whatever else one can think of. Now that he's mastered that technique of fine toning one's chakra, he's ready to give this water walking a try.

It helps that he's pretty much read all of the scrolls, leaving what remains within the Forbidden scroll and those genjutsu scrolls to be read. Although he did created a single shadow clone today and set that clone to read one of the books he received during his birthday which was three days ago. When he had left, he noticed that the clone had chosen to read that biology book, although the clone had also made sure to have the dictionary around to help explain some of the larger unfamiliar works that will likely be found within the text book.

He takes a few steps forward, heading for deeper water. About two feet in, his balance becomes unstable and he back up a few steps. As he felt his feet get wet, he leaps back to the sandy bank. He sighs, while it was similar to the previous exercise, it was so much more difficult since he has to keep a steady flow of chakra to his feet to keep him on top of the water's surface.

Even though he hadn't been on top of the water's surface for long, he found himself slightly exhausted from standing on the water for a couple of minutes. He sighs slightly, knowing it was more from mental strain then physical strain since it was the same way with his rock climbing. Although, this exercise will likely be a heck of a lot easier then the rock climbing since he's use to focusing chakra into the soles of his feet.

After his third attempt, he's got it and he practices some taijutsu moves on top of the water's surface with a grin on his face. He almost kind of wishes that there had been a pool within the cavern that he calls home so that he may create a bunch of shadow clones as sparring partners and spar with them over that imaginary pool. He sighs and heads to the bank to put his cloths on, he has other things to do today then to hang out by the pool.

It's about time to Dorumon and himself to start heading out of the valley, so he's going to spend the next week or two looking for supplies before they leave. "Boss! Boss!" His head snaps to where he hears the cries, he finishes putting on his vest, and then races to the group of three Gotsumon that look pretty banged up.

"What's going on?" He demands and the lead rock Digimon cries out, "There was just too many of them, boss! They must have had it all planned out." Tears were rolling down the Digimon's rocky cheeks.

"They? What were they?" He asks, not liking what the three were talking about. "ToyAgumon, boss, a whole army of them, like over twenty of them!" One of the other Gotsumon answers as the rock monster uses the back of his rocky hand to swipe away its tears. "They want you, boss, you and Dorumon." The third pipes in.

He curses as he looks in the direction of the village. There wasn't any smoke, but then, there wouldn't be since the village was mostly made out of piled rocks and large stone slabs. "Ok, you three, head to the cave and once you tell Dorumon what's what, I want you three to remain there until we either get back or when it's nightfall. I'll run on ahead and see what I can do, ok?" He says to the three Digimon and once they've nodded, he turns away from them and then starts off at a jog to give them time to get his partner.

His mind races as he heads towards the village, he tries to think of some way to keep these ToyAgumon occupied while waiting for the purple rookie to join the party. He's keeps glancing around him every so often to see if there's some kind of patrol or advanced scout. He makes it to the edge of the village after traveling for a good thirty minutes. He hides out behind some large stones, while it's tempting to create a bunch of shadow clones and then attack these intruders, he won't since he's long since decided to resort to that only as a last resort since he doesn't want to advertise his skills since it's highly unlikely that the humans living in the real world had ninjas or could do stuff with their chakra.

He glances first to his card deck and then to his Digivice, he's not sure where he got the name but it seemed to fit the gadget that symbolizes his relationship with Dorumon. He unclips it and holds it in his lap, it's not long before a compass seems to activate without him pressing any buttons. He glances around out of the corner of his eyes, checking to see if anybody else was around.

He hears some pebbles move and he ducks around the opposite side of the large stone. After a few seconds, he takes a peek to see what made that bit of noise. He blinks in surprise at the creature that's standing about four to five feet from him, up on a ridge. The thing up on the ridge seemed to be made out of some kind of coloured blocks with mini pillars on them. The colours were red, yellow, green, and blue.

'_I guess I now know why they've got the word toy in their name, they look like one.'_ He muses as he ducks back behind the rock; he keeps his back to the rock. He hears someone call out about fifteen minutes once that Digimon took its position on the ridge.

"See any signs of those three run aways?" A voice from his right bellows out. "Nope, I don't see anything but dirt and stone, commander." The ToyAgumon replies. "Well, keep me posted, private." The voice of the leader of the army of ToyAgumon orders sternly and the one on the ridge answers, "Yes sir!"

Once more things quiet down and he sits back, waiting for Dorumon to make his appearance.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

He studies his handy work, the large stone slab that Naruto had once used as a measuring stone now had a bunch of mini craters on the side that once had a bunch of slash marks from his Tamer's kunai. Now that the blond was done using the stone slab and his other slab had toppled over, he had no problems using the whisker cheeked boy's previous slab. He uses the stone for target practice; he tries to hit a certain line that's etched on the slab's surface while trying to keep the damage focused to that tiny area.

"Dorumon? Dorumon!" He turns to see a Gotsumon racing towards him. "What's wrong?" He asks once he jogs up to the rocky rookie Digimon.

"The boss, he said to get you!" The other Digimon says, even now he can't help but wonder what Naruto did to get that title since most of the younger Gotsumon tended to call his Tamer boss. "Huh?" He feels a sense of dread as the Gotsumon continues on to say, "An army of ToyAgumon attacked our village! We found boss at the pool and when we told him about what happened, he told us to head to his cave to get you, but, well, you weren't at the cave so we split up to find you!"

"Let me guess, he went on a head, didn't he?" He states and the Gotsumon nods. "Damn it!" He curses and without saying anything else, he sets off in the direction of the village, hoping that Naruto hasn't done anything stupid…

-(V)-

**Naruto**

**Outskirts of Gotsumon Village**

As he tries to make out shapes by using the little bumps and lines on the surface of the rock before him, he hears a shout of alarm. "There's a Digimon coming in, I repeat, there's a purple Digimon in bound!" The ToyAgumon up on the ridge cries out, alerting the occupying forces.

He checks his Digivice and finds that he's been sitting there for a little over an hour. He grins slightly and the sentry moves off of the ridge, heading into the village. He waits for a few seconds before moving out of his hiding spot.

He takes a peek into the village and finds that a lot of those multi coloured rookies were gathered together. He didn't bother to count how many were down there, he whistled slightly as one of the Digimon orders the others to transform. Before his very eyes, he watches as the other ToyAgumon seem to break apart and then the blocks combine together to create two very tall multi coloured humanoid things.

The two tall statues that are made out of ToyAgumon take aim and watch as their fists launch in the direction that his partner is coming in at. Without too much thought, he reaches into his card deck and pulls out a few cards. He takes a quick look at the five cards before picking out two of them.

"Digi-modify! Speed activate! Digi-modify! Rapid Arrow activate!" He bellow and the effect happened rather quickly. Dorumon seemed to vanish from the path and appears about ten feet before the two tall things that were made out of ToyAgumon. "Metal Cannon!" Dorumon shouts and in rapid succession a bunch of metal balls launch out of the purple rookie's mouth. The rapid attacks hit dead on; though from a few of the metal balls miss their marks.

The two created statue like golems made out of ToyAgumon break apart and the army of Digimon reassemble in their original forms, some groaning in pain. The likely commander of the troop glares as venomously at his partner and then at him, much to his private amusement though.

"Nobody mentioned spotting you!" The commander growls as the ToyAgumon points in his direction. "I hope so; I was trying to remain hidden after all." He states in a bland voice.

At the sound of his voice, the other ToyAgumon gather their strength and stand up to form rows. Dorumon's tail swishes to the right as Dorumon pulls himself up as he cocks his head to the side, clearly his partner is busy analyzing the troop of rookie Digimon while there's a pause in the battle. The commander finishes glaring at him and spins around to face his troop of Digimon.

"Alright, tank formation!" The lead rookie Digimon barks out and like before, the other ToyAgumon break apart to combine together into some new structure, one unknown to him although since the commander of the troop had called out the formation he can only assume that this would be a tank. He frowns; he didn't like this, not at all since it seems as if all of the ToyAgumon share the damage so it made it harder to delete them over all.

He can't help but wish that Dorumon could reach the champion stage at this point as his partner and the ToyAgumon in the form of a colourful tank take pot shots at each other, though Dorumon has been able to successfully dodge most of the shots coming out of the stick that's positioned on the top of the formation. He glances down at his Digivice, wondering if it could help with Dorumon to achieve that level. His head snaps up and towards Dorumon as he hears his partner's pain filled cry.

"Dorumon!" He shouts out as he starts off in Dorumon's direction. It's more then likely that the jogging Dorumon did before arriving on the out skirts of the village had left its toll on the purple Digimon, causing the furry Digimon to be less then top condition even before the fight started.

Dorumon gets blasted two more times before he screams, "Dorumon!" He manages to get to his partner's side and as he touches his partner his Digivice begins to beep. Light emanates from it and he backs away as Dorumon's whole body begins to glow brightly. He puts his right hand before his eyes to block the blinding light.

"Dorumon Digivolve to..." Dorumon says and then in an altered voice cries out, "Dorugamon!" The light flashes outwards and before him now stands his partner in his champion form.

Dorugamon stands taller then him although he's hunched over with much larger wings on his back. He notices that there are shaded stripes on Dorugamon's purple coat while there are patches of white on his muzzle, around his neck, hands, feet, bottom side of the wings, and around the tip of the tail. Dorugamon now has much larger red claws and it seems as if the gem on his partner's forehead remains the same size as it was on Dorumon's forehead. Dorugamon's ears look so much sharper then before, when he had been a rookie Digimon. His Digivice beeps and once he holds it out before him a picture of his partner appears with a bunch of information.

**Dorugamon**

Level: Champion

Attribute: Data

Attacks: Power Metal and Cannon Ball

Beast dragon type. It has made a heavy weight class because it can escape when an enemy Digimon believes its shadow to be it. It is a ferocious Beast-Dragon Digimon, its ferocity being like a wild beast of nature, when it comes to fighting, but, it has the intellect of a dragon and is very gentle usually.

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Dorugamon asks, not even glancing his way as Dorugamon stares at the tank made out of ToyAgumon. "I'm fine." He pauses before adding, "I guess I don't need to ask if you are though, huh?" A light grin on his face as he feels a sense of overwhelming pride fills his being.

Dorugamon grunts and within seconds his partner is in the air. The tank's stick aim follows his partner's furry from into the air and also mimics Dorugamon's circle as his partner circles over head. He glances to the troop leader and finds a look of barely control panic in the ToyAgumon's eyes. It seems that the tables had turned and the ToyAgumon commander wasn't looking so sure of their chances.

"What are you waiting for? Fire!" The commander barks out; although it's clearly that he's not willing to look cowardly before the troop and within seconds the tank fires at the flying, circling Digimon. The balls of plastic don't hit the flying Digimon as arc up into the air and then fall to the ground.

Dorugamon also doesn't return fire, mostly just circles overhead, seemingly mocking the Digimon below. After over fifteen rounds fired at him, he lost count around that point; his partner finally does something other then circle overhead. The purple Digimon begins to climb higher into the air; the stick at the top of the tank can't mimic the angle of trajectory.

So the tank moves from its current position and moves away from the rocky buildings get a better position to attack the soon to be diving Digimon. With most of the attention likely on the tank, he turns his attention to the commander and a slight smirk begins to form as he begins to realise what a golden opportunity this could be. With one last look upwards at his climbing partner before he uses all of his stealth to approach the remaining ToyAgumon within the village.

-(V)-

**Dorugamon**

He focuses in on the moving tank below him as he enjoying his new found ability that allows him to get above his enemies. He can't help but ravel in the power that this new body offers him as well as the sense of freedom that came along with it. He was no longer restricted to the ground and even more so he's no longer totally restricted to one level.

'_I wonder what he's up to.'_ He muses as he notices blur as the blurry image of his Tamer begins to move from his spot. He shrugs, deciding that it didn't matter at the moment and returns to tracking the moving tank as it slowly begins to become blurry in his vision. He finally reaches a point high in the air and with a grin, enters into a dive by moving his upper body forward and closes his wings as he does so.

He uses his wings to make adjustments to his diving path as he aims for at the tank. The tank shoots off a few rounds, he with a few maneuvers he easily dodges the plastic balls. He enjoys the rush of air dancing around his body, racing over his fur, and wings.

Within twenty feet of the tank, he opens his mouth and shoots off three metal orbs before coming out of the dive. As he pulls up, two of his attacks hit home while the third is destroyed by a counter attack. The two attacks manage to delete all of the ToyAgumon that make up the tank. He turns away from the data particles and heads for the village to see what his Tamer is up to.

As he lands in the center of the village, Gotsumon begin to appear from the side of their houses from where they were camouflaged as part of their buildings. Some come out of their houses and they approach him, forming a ring around him as they chatter among themselves about what they've witnessed and to seeing how the others were. He pulls himself up to look around to see if he can spot his blond Tamer.

After a few minutes, Naruto appears from behind some buildings and smiles cheerfully at him. He relaxes a bit, pleased to see that the boy was fine. Although, he frowns slightly as he scans the area for the commander since, if memory serves, the commander of the troop hadn't combined with the others to form the tank…

He shots his Tamer a questioning look and the blond looks sober for a moment before sighing. He blinks, slightly stunned that Naruto would do something like that… but then, his Tamer was more then able to handle a rookie if he sets his mind to it. Mixed feelings flicker within him but he pushes the worry and regret out since his partner was a warrior and will likely face off against Digimon who won't wait around to fight him fairly but try and take his Tamer hostage to get him to comply with their demands.

He blinks as the Gotsumon give a loud cheer and as he pays their chatter some mind, he finds that they're planning on having a feast to celebrate not only the victory over the ToyAgumon troop but also his new found ability to Digivolve to champion. As most of the Gotsumon break away to go get things prepared, his Tamer makes it to his side. He bends down slightly to look into the boy's bright blue eyes; Naruto's left hand touches the tip of his muzzle.

"You ok?" He asks softly and Naruto's face grows sad. "Yea, it was pretty easy since he hadn't expected it. He had this surprised look in his eyes as he… Well you know what." The blond tells him softly so that none of the others around them can hear what they're talking about.

"Well, at least you got him before he decided to try anything underhanded." He muses softly to his human partner. "I take it that they're generally cowards, huh?" Naruto asks and he nods slightly. "I figured as much, that mon was panicking when he got a good look at you." The blond muses.

Naruto's left hand moves from the tip of his muzzle and moves it up his muzzle, going towards his eyes although since he's so much taller then the blond, the hand stops before it reaches the back of his muzzle. He enjoyed the feeling of Naruto's hand going through his fur. The blond's palm remains on his muzzle for a few more minutes before his Tamer pulls it off.

"Err, I kind of thought of something." Naruto says and he cocks his head to the side, his way of getting his partner to continue. "Somebody should go and tell those three Gotsumon about the party that's going to be happening… I don't suppose you'd mind fetching them, huh? I'm sure you're just itching to use those." Naruto says and motions towards his wings.

'_He knows me too well.'_ He muses to himself and with a single flap of his wings, he nods. "Sure, might as well use them while I have them." He says and his partner nods in agreement. He bends his legs and waits for when his Tamer moves away before leaping into the air.

Once more the sky is the limit and he circles around the village as he climbs into the air. He then tilts his wings ever so slightly and takes off in the direction of the cavern that both Naruto and he calls home.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Two Weeks later**

He glances to where his partner is walking with his sling filled with those scrolls he stole from the Third Hokage's library. It had been too much for him to carry it along with a full back pack, so Dorumon offered to wear the sling like pack filled with scrolls. From what he can see, Dorumon was doing fine even though they're traveling during the day time and his partner has a full fur coat.

"You want to stop for a break?" He asks and Dorumon shakes his head. "Let's keep going, we can stop when we reach those rock formations." Dorumon replies and he nods before taking point once more.

He notices a data stream off in the distance but it's not heading in their direction. Once they're at the odd rock formation they won't have to worry about any data streams since they'd more then likely find a cave in which to hide in. The streams only take surface items so it's unlikely that the pink coloured beam of light would be able to pick them up out from under tons of rocky layers.

He scans the horizon ever so often to see if any Digimon were stalking them. So far, he hasn't spotted any Digimon but then, for all he knows one's trailing them overhead. Out of the corner of his eye, Dorumon pauses ever so often to scan around as well, it's likely that Dorumon's hearing is much better then his so Dorumon's listening for the tell tale sounds of feet hitting the sandy ground.

They made it to the odd looking rocks that look like satellite dishes from his history book. He cocks his head at the closest one once he's set down his purple back pack. "I can't believe that nobody craved those." He muses out loud as Dorumon settles down in the cool shade, not even bothering to take off the sling pack filled with scrolls.

"Well, I've never heard of any Digimon becoming an artist. Not to say that it can't happen, only that so far, nobody's bothered." Dorumon muses and he sighs as he glances at the purple furred rookie for a few seconds before looking back that the rock.

He glances towards a data stream that's moving across the horizon, he frowns slightly as it changes direction right before his eyes. _'It's freaky when they do that, it's almost like they're hunting for something.'_ He muses silently to himself as he observes the moving pillar of light.

The data stream once more turns sharply and he notices some kind of speck moving in their direction. "Look at that, there's a Digimon trying to out run that data stream." He tells his partner Digimon, he can hear Dorumon get to his feet. "It's only a matter of time before whoever they are get tired and finds themselves in another part of this world." His partner replies and he nods in agreement. "True."

So they stood there, watching some Digimon try and stake off, though they're not succeeding in this endeavour. He shakes his head as his Digvice beeps and he unclips it so he can see what kind of Digimon is trying to out run the data stream.

**Aquilamon**

Level: Champion

Attribute: Data

Attacks: Grand Horn and Blast Ring

Bird type. A Giant Bird type Digimon who is said to be called "The Giant Eagle of the Desert". He flies across the sky at the speed of Mach. He wields insight that allows him to locate enemies from a distance. He absolutely follows his master who he swore fidelity to.

"Well, that pretty much explains why he's been able to keep ahead of the data stream." He muses once the image and information vanishes from the air before him. The purple furred Digimon hums his agreement as the red bird Digimon flies to some spot to their left.

The flying Digimon does a double take when the red champion glances in their direction. He feels slightly amused at the chagrin look in the bird Digimon's eyes since the Digimon has a beck, thus making him limited in the facial expressions department. They move more into the cave, but they remain close to the entrance so they can see how this plays out.

Within seconds of them moving back, the bird Digimon seems to increase his speed as well as gain in height. Then Aquilamon does a sharp turn and plummets in their direction, likely hoping to take cover in the cave as well. As the Digimon comes close, his Digivice begins to beep like crazy and he begins to feel… faint and a quick look in Dorumon's direction shows that his partner, too, is affected.

As the bird comes barreling towards them, the feeling increases and before the world spins, the champion flies at and then through them. His vision swims and after a few blinks, all he could see was fog. He cocks his head to the side as the fog begins to thin out until he finds that Dorumon and him were in a stand of trees. He can easily see some steps leading to this concrete shed that's building into the side of the hill.

"Cool costume." He hears somebody say behind him, on the concrete path. He turns and spots a small group of young kids, the kids were coming towards them, making a bee line right to Dorumon. Within moments, the kids were petting his partner and Dorumon seems bemused by all of this.

The kids fired off what seemed to be a million questions at once, all about where his friend got his cool 'costume' and about what kind of Digimon he's suppose to be. After a while, the kids remembered that they're missing out on a soccer game, whatever that is, and raced away. He watches with an amused smile as the threesome race away.

"Well, that was interesting." Dorumon says with amusement oozing out of him. He nods in agreement. "At least they didn't think you were the real deal." He points out as he exchanges a grin with his partner. Dorumon hums in agreement and with a sigh, he runs a hand through his shaggy blond hair.

"Well, I guess we could always explore around until evening and then we can come back here to use that," he gestures to the concrete shed, "as cover for tonight." Dorumon thinks about it for a few seconds before nodding in agreement with the plan that he out lined.

He memorizes the surrounding area so that they could find their way back to this place and then takes point, leading the purple rookie towards the path that the kids had been walking on. His thoughts turned to the passport that he has in his pack, he also wonders if those plastic cards were good for something as well.

- o 0 o -


	4. Chapter 4

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Takato Matsuki**

**A Week Later**

The final bell rings and he can't help but let out a sigh of relief and can't help but grin, he wasn't late for once! He glances up at the front as Mr Etsushi, walks into the room followed by a blond with whisker marks on his cheek wearing a pair of blue jeans as well as a brown shirt with a blue vest over top of the shirt; the blond is likely their new classmate. He watches as the blond fingers a card pouch that's hanging off of his belt, he notices some kind of device clipped to one of the belt loops.

"Class, I would like you to meet Naruto Uzumaki. He'll be joining our class starting today so give him a warm welcome." Mr Etsushi tells them. "Welcome Naruto." They chime together and the blond grins as he replies, "Nice to meet all of you."

"Would you like say a bit about yourself?" Their teacher asks and Naruto shrugs. "Sure, why not." The blond muses as glances at the adult in the room. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki and I'm currently staying with a distant cousin of mine who works for the government." The blond informs them, he blinks as he's unsure how to react to that although a bunch of other kids were already chatting among themselves, debating if Naruto was telling them the truth or not.

"Anyway, my favourite colour is orange, my favourite food is ramen, and, yes, I am into Digimon." Naruto adds with a playful grin on his face. He couldn't help but grin back, he'll admit, the kid's cheerfulness was infectious.

"You may take the seat by Mr Wong." Their teacher says and he glances around to see who their teacher was talking about. One of his classmates that is wearing an orange vest raises his hand, he studies the kid, noticing that the Wong kid was pretty tanned, more so then Naruto. With a shrug, he returns to looking at the front of the classroom as their teacher was already being their first period, which was math.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

He watches as the man, Mitsou Yamaki, types away on the lap top, likely going over the information they've gotten when they scanned him just two days ago. It's been about five days since they've come to be in the custody of the blond man. It seems that those Digi-Gnomes created a history for Naruto as well as forged the family history that makes it appear that Naruto Uzumaki and Mitsou Yamaki were distant cousin to one another.

He shakes his head as he recalls how the man reacted to seeing him sitting with his Tamer in the police station. He clearly recalls the sneer that had appeared on the man's face, it really made him want to snarl and snap at the blond man that was wearing sun glasses. Of course, the young woman that arrived with said man, Riley had looked surprised but seemed to melt slightly after touching his furry head. She even complimented how fine his fur was, which was something he wasn't use to and it already put her in his good books, although Naruto had teased him slightly about how he reacted when Riley complimented him.

He glances down at the remote control, he did recall how to use the remote since after all Yamaki does turn it on to watch the news every night. He's unsure how the blond would reaction to him turning it on and doing some channel 'surfing.' He sighs, he's just so bored… he also doesn't get why his Tamer has to go to school either.

'_I mean, why can't he remain home, with me? Or why can't I go there with him? I can't help but feel left out… That and I'm feeling kind of lonely without him around. Sure, Naruto would go train for most of the day and I would do the same, but I always had the opinion of hanging around the training area and watching Naruto do his thing.'_ He thinks with a ting of longing. He can't suppress a sigh as he looks out the window that's behind the government agent.

After a few moments, he turns away to return to staring down at the TV remote. With a sigh, he uses the tip of one of his red claws on his right hand to press down on the button labelled power. He then presses the button with titled satellite before pressing the button labelled guide, which opens up a list of what's on the different channels.

A quick glance in Yamaki's direction reassures him that the man's occupied with his computer. Returning to studying the TV screen, he presses the line button, the one that speeds up the scrolling ability. He notices a familiar word and presses the enter button. He blinks as a group of human children stand on screen with a much larger group of Digimon standing around them. And as the shot fades out, a male voice says, "Digimon!" He settles back, highly interested to know just what this show was all about and how it relates to him.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Gym Period**

He glances around the locker room as he follows Henry through the rows of lockers and preteens. "So just pick a locker once you're done changing into your gym uniform and meet me by that door over there." Henry says as he points to the door that lies in the opposite direction then the entrance one. "Ok, and thanks for showing me around Henry." He says to the likely older boy.

Henry smiles slightly and nods in acknowledgment of his thanks. "No problem Naruto." Henry says before heading off to find his own locker, leaving him to pick his own out from the assorted collection of lockers around him. He hears someone bragging about how he'll totally cream the other team all on his own. It's not long before he finds the speaker and his two friends as they finish taking off their shirts.

He smiles faintly for a second before setting his bag on the bench between the two rows of lockers. He unties his runners as he listens with half an ear to the conversation going on not too far from where he's bending over. Soon the threesome finishes changing into their gym cloths and head off through the door that Henry told him about. It wasn't long before he's stuffing his gym bag into a locker and heading off in that direction as well.

Much like he promised, Henry was standing there, waiting for him. Although he knew he wasn't in the Village-Hidden-in-the-Leaves any more and that people around here more then likely don't believe in demons, he froze for a second before shaking it off. _'Get a grip! Henry's a nice guy, if a tad friendless. If he weren't he wouldn't have taken it on himself to show me around. Besides, nobody around here knows what I've got in my gut and even if I told them, they'd likely think that I'm crazy. Though, I almost wish it were Digimon that I'm dealing with right now, I know I can handle them better then kids my own age.'_ He tells himself as he follows Henry to where the boys were standing all grouped together, standing five feet from where the girls were standing, also grouped all together.

He notices two nets at different ends of the gym; it wasn't long before two captains were appointed. He ended up on the team that Henry's also on, as well as one of the bragger's friends, the one with crimson hazel eyes. They gathered around and found that they were arguing about who'd be the goalie. He asked what the goalie's allowed to do and a girl that pig tails explains it to him.

"I'll be the goalie if nobody's interested in the job." He says since he at least understands that position, he'll likely learn more just by watching them play then by participating in the more dominate role of running around. "Ok, Naruto's goalie first, who wants the job when he's on the bench?" The appointed captain asks. In the end, the boy with reddish hazel eyes, whose name is Takato, found himself appointed with the position of second goalie.

As some of the team members head off to sit on the bench, it seems that only a certain number of players were allowed on the field at any given time, he heads towards the plastic posts with a white rope net hanging off of the plastic posts. With his back to the net, he watches as a member of each team stands by their teacher, Mr Etsushi, who has this white ball with black patches on it.

The ball falls between the two and the two both of the preteens try to kick the ball. In the end, the one from his team as the other team have these red bands around their right arms which helps to tell who's on who's team, manages to kick the ball to another member of the team. The ball hits the girl's chest and as the ball drops down, the girl kicks the ball, a member of the other team manages to intercept the ball and the guy weaves between two of his team mates before kicking the ball to another member of the red band team.

As he watches the ball get kicked around, he begins to get an idea of what's what. The whistle blows as one of his team mates touches the ball with their fist, which pretty much confirms his thoughts about why they use their chests and any other part of their body that wasn't their hands to intercept the ball in mid air. He watches as his team mates are forced a good few feet away from the spot where that team mate had touched the ball, one of the red band wearing members kick the ball to the other friend of the bragger, the kid wearing a pair of glasses.

The game once more underway, he watches as the team with the red bands manages to get the ball more on his team's side of the playing field. With in seconds, the ball comes sailing his way, without too much trouble, he snatches the ball in the air and tosses the ball to an open team mate. A few of his team mates that were around him send him approving looks before racing off to the other side of the gym to help their team mates keep the ball in their control in hopes of scoring a goal.

About fifteen minutes into the game, those on the floor exchange places with those on the bench. As he settles down on the bench, he finds himself slightly swarmed by his team mates as they congratulate him on his saves, he gets a few people patting him on his shoulders. He smiles warmly at them as he feels a storm of emotions whirl within him though he tries not to show it.

Within two minutes the others settle down the benches, calling out encouragements and cheering whenever they got control of the ball. He once more watches as the ball moves around the gym floor. He watches as the girl with pig tails scores on the other team's second goalie, who just happens to be the bragger from the locker room. Though the team that wears those red bands does manage to get two goals in before the players switch out once more and he takes over as goalie from Takato.

Much like before, he finds his job easy since unlike the other players, he's allowed to use his hands although he wouldn't be surprised if he'd make an excellent scorer with his reflexives and the fact that he's in much better shape then most kids in his class. He could tell that a few of the girls were checking out his figure, he recalls those looks although those looks are usually directed to Uchiha. He tries to ignore the attention since he doesn't know what to make of it.

In the last fifteen minutes of the class, everyone was allowed on the floor and though it was hard for him to keep track where the ball was, he still managed to keep the ball from entering the net. In the end, as they headed into the boy's locker room, he couldn't help but notice the stench of sweaty bodies. It didn't help that a lot of preteens congratulated him as they entered into the locker room either.

Everyone in the locker room had enough time to take a shower before changing into their regular cloths, which really helped get rid of that scent was coming off of them. Within minutes the bell rings out and everyone heads out of the locker room, he manages to catch up to Henry and walks with him to their next class. While neither of them chatted endlessly with each other, he did find a bit of comfort in the silence between them as they enter into the classroom, they were among the first to arrive.

"You did great, though I'm guessing that's your first time playing?" Henry asks after a few seconds. "Yea, back where I grew up the popular games that everyone preferred to play most of the time are either modified version of tag, flag, and hide & seek." He admits, although he's never been picked to join in any of those games.

"Kind of odd, if you ask me. I mean, didn't you guys play any team oriented games?" Henry asks and he shrugs. He knew perfectly well why they didn't, after all, tag and hide & seek help prepare simulate ninja pursuits and get a ways. "Let's just say that the kids like to play ninja a lot." He says with amusement oozing out of his voice as well as a slight grin flashing on his face. Henry shakes his head slightly, clearly bemused by his statement.

Before they could continue on, the bragger arrives with a small group of five friends which include his replacement goalie, Takato. He notices the look that flashes in Henry's eyes before the other turns around in his seat and then begins to root around for his note book. He cocks his head to the side, not sure what to make of Henry's mood change, but then, he didn't really blame Henry if he's annoyed with the visor wearing preteen who's currently center of attention.

'_I wonder if I sounded like that when I was back in the academy.'_ He muses ideally as he watches the group out of the corner of his eye. In the end, he retrieves his own note book from his purple knapsack that's leaning on one of his desk legs. As he flips it open just as the final bell rings out and those that gathered around visor boy's desk scatter throughout the classroom to get to their desks before the teacher comes into the room.

With a mental sigh, he takes out a pencil to begin jotting down the notes that the teacher will be imparting to them soon enough. Though he wonders what kind of day Dorumon had staying at the apartment with Yamaki for the day.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

He sighs as a commercial begins on the TV screen. He glances towards the door, wondering when the blond is supposed to be back. He gets up off the floor and heads into the kitchen; he glances out the patio window, Yamaki left around lunch with his lap top computer.

The older blond had departed with a simple order not to eat everything in the fridge and freezer, which had caused him to send a sour look at the door as it closed and with a click, was locked. _'A locked door isn't enough to keep me from leaving the apartment. He likely knows that.'_ He muses to himself as he grabs three hot pink fruit that were called Dragon Fruit. He remembers to grab some paper toweling before heading back into the living room part of the apartment.

As the final commercial ends and the show called Pokemon begins, he carefully breaks the hot pink fruit in the middle, careful to keep the mess over the few sheets of paper towel he had grab. He puts on end down before bringing the other piece to his muzzle. He licks the break, enjoying the juice that's spilling out of the fruit. He nips at the middle part, careful not to eat the skin since it taste horrible.

It's not long before he tries to break it apart vertically. He sighs slightly as he licks his claws before taking a large bite out of the flesh of the fruit. It's not long before he repeats the process with the other three quarters of the fruit. Before he moves onto one of the other Dragon fruit, he hears the door lock click and then open.

"I'm home!" His partner's voice rings out and he grins at the sight of the preteen. "What took you?" He calls out as Naruto takes off his runners once the door is shut. Naruto snorts as the young human takes a look at him. "You're worried about me when you should be worried about yourself!" His Tamer says with amusement.

"I'll have you know I haven't eaten everything within the fridge or the freezer." He says in what he hopes is a superior sounding tone. Naruto sighs and lets his back pack drop to the ground. "Geezes, I'm just saying that it looks like you should have a shower is all." Naruto says and he looks down at one of his pawish hands, frowning as he noted the juice matted fur.

'_I guess he wins this round.'_ He decides as he looks at the mess he's made. There's a great deal of discarded fruit cores, peels, and used paper toweling. He begins to gather the trash together in a pile before picking that pile up. He walks over to the garbage and dumps it into the bag. He goes around, picking up pieces that he missed for the next little while.

He notices that Naruto's already making himself a snack. He then heads to the bathroom to go take a shower or something. He glances around, noting some bottles along the tub's rim. He picks up one and unscrews the lid so he can take a sniff. He pulls his head away from the open bottle; he quickly screws the lid back on before putting it back on the rim.

He hadn't noticed them there, it's likely that Yamaki had hid them under the sink and forgot to put them back. He shrugs as he decides to ignore them for now; he's got enough time to learn what they are and whether or not he wants to use them. He plugs the tub and then begins to turn on the taps for the water.

He runs his claws over some matted patches of fur as he waits for the tub to fill with warm water, something which he never experienced living in the Digital world. With a glance, he turns the two taps off and then remembers to put a few extra towels out onto the floor before getting into the tub. The water was a slighter hotter then he would like, but decided not to worry about it since it'll cool off soon enough.

By the time he's done in the bathroom, Naruto's got some books out and sitting at the coffee table with the volume of the TV on low. "So, which book is which?" He asks as he nabs a chip with some cheese on top of it from the plat of something that Yamaki called Nachos, a recipe that the older blond taught the younger blond.

"Well, the book open is my math homework and the other one is for my English homework." The preteen with whisker marks on his cheeks answers. He hums slightly, already losing interest in the books on the coffee table. He takes control of the remote and begins looking through the guide, not really sure what the words mean, it's likely something he'll have to get Naruto to teach him so he could understand what's written there.

In the end, he picks out one that he knows is connected with food. He settles down as he waits for the commercial to end, snagging a few chips as well.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

"So, this is where you buy your cards, huh?" Naruto asks him once they walk into the shop. "Yea, I do. So, anything else you're thinking of buying?" He asks the blond who he's only known for about three to four days. He can't help but wonder why Naruto seemed content to hang out with him when there were other kids in their class who'd love to hang out with him.

"Digimon season DVDs are something I won't mind buying too." The blond muses as the other studies a poster for a Digimon card tournament. He grins slightly, although he highly doubts that Naruto's uncle would allow the blond to carry that much money since buying the complete seasons all at once is pretty expensive.

"I doubt you uncle would let you carry that much cash around on you." He informs the blond, he had just met Naruto's uncle just this morning when Yamaki dropped Naruto off at Shinjuku Park. The older blond to him seemed kind of stand offish. Not that it seemed to faze Naruto one bit as the whisker cheeked blond called out his farewells before the man drove off. After meeting his friend's uncle, he could see the guy working for the government like Naruto had told the class on his first day.

"True, but then, I got my own debit and credit card so I'm not spending his money, but my own." The blond tells him, flashing him a foxy grin as his blue eyes sparkle in mischief. He can't help but stare dumbly at his companion for a few seconds before sighing as he shakes his head in slight disbelief.

"I'm stunned nobody's bothered to rob you yet." He muses and Naruto chuckles slightly, he notices how amused Naruto seems to be at the thought of someone stealing from him. "Henry, Henry, Henry. You really think I'm that easy to steal from? I'm hurt that you don't think I can defend myself." Naruto says, holding his right hand over his chest as if holding off an injury.

He cocks an eyebrow as he studies his friend head to toe before sighing. "I can see you tackling the guy as he flees…" He admits as he recalls how quick on his feet Naruto was. It's almost like Naruto's the ultimate jock from the way the blond excels in sports, though Naruto's written work left much to be desired.

The blond grins at him for a few seconds before Naruto decide to head off to take a look around the shop, leaving him alone. He smiles slightly as he watches his friend for a few seconds before walking up to a rack filled with wooden swords as well as a few swords made out of bamboo. The bamboo swords remind him of Cody from the second season of Digimon; it kind of made him feel connected to that character since they're both into martial artists and they're both reserved.

'_If there were such things as Digimon, I wonder what kind of Digimon I would end up with.'_ He wonders ideally for a few seconds before dismissing that train of thought. He moves away from the rack of wooden weapons and glances at the actual weapons along the wall, the once behind the counter before looking down into the glass cases at the odd assortment of blades ranging from decorative to kitchen utensils.

"I can't believe they got some kunai here!" Naruto says few cases to his left. He heads over to where his friend was and glances down at the different kinds of throwing knives. He notices which variety that has caught Naruto's attention, there are the ones with a ring at the end of them.

"As if a kid like you would know how to throw them." One of the employees says, arriving a few seconds after he did. He blinks as he tries to determine the expression that had flashed on Naruto's face on hearing the man say that. Naruto looks back down at the kunai that's on display before asking the man if they had the complete seasons of Digimon on DVD available.

'_Ok…'_ He thinks as he stands there for a few seconds, trying to wonder if it had been his imagination as playing tricks on him, since for a split second there, it was like Naruto seemed to be hurt by such casual dismissal of his abilities. He glances around for a second before joining his friend at the counter; unsure at how to react to this new tit bit of information he has on his blond friend.

He watches passively as Naruto buys the two complete season DVDs as well as three booster packs. He already knew that they won't have the booster set he wants until next Tuesday so he didn't buy anything. They head out of the store; Naruto's already opening one of the card packs that he bought.

"So, where to next?" Naruto asks him as they stop by a lamp post. "I don't really have too many places I have to be until one. Then I'll be heading to the dojo for my class." He tells the blond. "You practice martial arts?" Naruto asks him, the pack of cards in his hand forgotten for the moment.

"Yea, I do." He admits and it's his turn to be studied as Naruto gives him the once over. "Huh, I just thought you were a swimmer or something by your build." The blond muses and he blinks rapidly for a few seconds, taken back by that statement.

"…ok." He says and Naruto looks slightly amused by his reply. "All I'm saying is that you're muscular slender. You move a heck of a lot more fluently compared to some of our class mates. I take it you're passive aggressive, eh?" The blond blue eyed boy with whisker like marks on his cheeks adds and he really didn't know how to react to what Naruto has just told him.

"You're not gay are you?" He finally asks after a few minutes, it was the first thing that crossed his mind. Naruto seemed to chock on air before a hearty chuckle erupts from him. "Heck no! I did have this crush on this girl back at my old school. Though she and pretty much every other girl in the class were hung up on this guy, Uchiha, I've forgotten what his first name was, mustn't have been that important if I can't recall it." The blond muses once he shops laughing.

He raises an eyebrow at that, he might not know much about what girls find attractive but he's pretty sure that blonds were at the top of their list on who they want to date. "I guess we could head over to the park and see if we could get in a few Digimon card games before I have to go." He says, switching the topic to something he felt a bit more comfortable with. Naruto smiles at that and nods his head in agreement, also changing to a safer topic.

'_I could get use to this, well, most of it.'_ He decides, trying his hardest to forget the fact that he had just asked a guy that he barely knew about his sexual preferences. _'I'd never live that down if any of my sisters learnt of that part of my day.'_ He groans mentally to himself as he follows Naruto to the park and hopefully to do something that would help distract him from the awkwardness from what happened just a few minutes ago.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Two Weeks Later**

"Exploding Punch!" The Digimon his Digivice IDs as Nanimon bellows out. The punch misses his partner by a foot, the ground explodes on impact. The rubble hits the champion while Dorumon puts some distance between them.

He glances worriedly around, it's been about three minutes since they engaged this guy and he really wants this over before someone accidentally stumbles upon them. He glances down at the cell phone in his left hand, wondering when Yamaki will call to ask what's taking him so long. "Metal Dash!" The purple rookie calls out as he pockets the cell phone that his 'uncle' got him when Hypnos decided to employ their skills as a fighting dual.

He snorts slightly as he studies the frozen champion that has an enraged look plastered on his face. "Metal Shoot!" His partner declares and the icy statue of Nanimon breaks apart. The fog that surrounds them begins to fade as the data particles head up into the night sky.

"You did a great job, Dorumon." He calls out to his partner. The purple rookie swishes his tail in acknowledgement. As they leave the area, his phone goes off. "Hello 'Uncle'." He says as he puts the phone to his ear.

"I told you not to call me that." Is Yamaki's brisk reply before the man acting as his guardian continues on before he could say something, "While you were dealing with that Wild One, there was another Bio Emergence. I've already called a cab to pick you two up and to take you to the location." With that, the phone goes dead and he closes the cell phone before pocketing it with a slight sigh.

"What now?" Dorumon asks him and he answers, "It seems that we're to wait for a cab, then that cab will take us to another Bio Emergence, and then likely, we'll have another fight on our hands." The furry rookie Digimon shakes his head slightly but doesn't say anything as he only follows him to a corner to wait for the cab to appear.

Within five minutes, the cabby appears and with a slight hello from him, they enter into the vehicle. Once they have the seat belts on, the car takes off towards their destination. He watches as they pass by buildings, people, other vehicles, and lamp posts.

He wonders what to expect when they arrive at their destination, he rather hopes that there won't be a Digimon around for them to fight. While he gets why Yamaki's branch of the government doesn't want them around, he can't help but think about the Gotsumon village that he had been living next to for a few months before leaving that valley and the friends he had made among the rock type Digimon. He could also sympathize to their need to get stronger as well; after all, once upon a time he had wanted to be top dog of his own village, to be the Hokage of Hidden Leaf.

As the cab speeds off, he pauses and looks up at the sky as he hears something rustle up above them. He watches as a greyish yellow Digimon that reminds him of a dragonfly as the bug type seems to dart around the open street in a zig zag pattern. Within seconds another Digimon flies out into the open, this one dark grey dragon type Digimon with two pairs of red wings wearing a steel helmet as well as a few other assorted items made out of steel.

He glances over at his partner only to find that Dorumon's sights are on another kid not that far from where they're standing. "Hey you!" He shouts as he decides to get the other's attention. The other boy looks startled for a moment until the boy's gaze goes to Dorumon.

"If you're partner's the bug, you might want to, you know, do something before they're deleted." He adds as once more, the other kid's attention returns to him. The other boy blinks before grinning slightly, though one of the guy's hands runs through the kid's dark maroon brown hair. "Actually, the dragon's mine." The other answers and he glances up at the aerial battle taking place. The only thing going for the bug seemed to be its speed and reaction time.

"By the way, name's Ryo Akiyama. I'm kind of new around here…" Ryo tells him and he smiles brightly at the other teen. "Good to meet ya, I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki and this here is my partner, Dorumon." He tells Ryo cheerfully, Ryo spares his partner another look before nodding slightly, though for some odd reason, he can't help but notice a slight look of reluctance and weariness in the other's eyes.

He frowns slightly, he's seen that look before, more often then not in the mirror back when he was younger and a few more times in the Digital world as well, before he met up with Dorumon and became the purple rookie's partner. "Erase Claw!" Growls the dragon flying above the street as the bug type tries to flee into an alley way. A bit of the building takes some damage as the attack hits the bug from behind.

He watches as the dragon Digimon loads the bug Digimon's data, he sighs slightly as he shakes his head slightly, he didn't think that Ryo's partner really needed the data but he's not going to pick an argument with the other Tamer on their first meeting. _'It had been pretty unfair for me to be the only one Dorumon interacts with. Although, I doubt this guy's much for talking.'_ He muses to himself.

The red winged dragon Digimon glares in his direction, he blinks at this, as he becomes slightly unnerved at the attention he's receiving from the humanoid dragon. He could hear a slight growl emanating from the tall Digimon. He stands straighter and gave the Digimon a look that read, 'yea I'm here, what do you plan on doing about it?' He had no intension of backing down from the fight that this Digimon was picking.

Dorumon doesn't move, more then likely knowing that if there were to be a battle, it would be between him and Ryo's partner. He watches as the dragon's left hand balls slightly and his hand goes to the pouch around his hip, ready to pull out a couple of kunai and throw them at this grey Digimon standing a few feet from him. He narrows his eyes as he begins to feel the tension hanging in the air between them.

"Cyberdramon, what are you doing? He's just a kid!" Ryo pipes in, breaking the silence that was hanging around. With a blink he relaxes before turning to look at Ryo, his hand moving from the hip pouch. The Digimon, Cyberdramon, seems to huff slightly while crossing his arms before his chest.

"Sorry about him, we're still getting to know each other." Ryo says in an apologising tone. "Oh? How long have you known each other? I've known Dorumon for a little under half a year." He says, not really caring that the guy's Digimon just threatened him. Ryo seems kind of surprised by his attitude, taken back by the fact that he's not offended.

"Not that long." Ryo admits once he recovers from his shock. "How come you're…? I mean, he just…" Ryo glances from him to Cyberdramon, and back again. "Should I be? I mean its better me then Dorumon." He says with a shrug though Dorumon snorts slightly at his reasoning. Ryo seems to lighten up as he chuckles; it seemed that he made a very good impression on the other Tamer.

"You're definitely an odd ball, Naruto." Ryo states and he shrugs slightly as he replies, "Yea well, you got to roll with the punches, you know?" Ryo nods in agreement. "Yea, guess that's pretty much all you can do." Ryo muses, he glances at Dorumon with a slightly confused look on his face and his partner just shrugs slightly, clearly just as confused as he was by the far away look on Ryo's face as the other Tamer gazes at his partner.

- o 0 o –


	5. Chapter 5

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Three Days Later**

He watches as Naruto studies the cards in his hand with great intent. He gives his own cards a passing glance before glancing down onto the mat with some of their cards on it as it is resting between them. Just this evening, Naruto showed up with not only a starter pack but also eight booster packs and handed them to him with the intent to teach him how to play Digimon the card game.

He had gotten off to a rough start but he's slowly getting the feel of the game as they play against each other. Though he's a bit reluctant to make friends while living in this dimension, it would seem that Naruto wasn't really giving him a say in the matter and seemed to be pretty good at tracking him down over the past three days. Though Naruto has tried to introduce him to his friend, a guy named Henry who's another collector and player of Digimon the card game. It seemed that Henry is pretty busy during the weekday evenings so it's likely that he won't be meeting the guy until the weekend, if ever.

Naruto lies down a card that activates an armour evolution for this Veemon, transforming the rookie into Magnamon and adding two modify cards. He sighs as he glances at his defending Digimon. Naruto's Magnamon attacks his Garurumon, causing him to discard his Garurumon card, which sets him back.

Now it's his turn and he picks up two cards to replace the ones he discarded during his last turn. He frowns as he tries to think up a strategy using his two new cards within his hand. As he muses over his cards, he watches as Naruto gazes at his partner who's currently listening to Naruto's MP3 player, he can't help but wonder where the blond gets the money to pay for something like that.

'_Maybe he gets a pay cheque from that government agency.'_ He muses to himself since as Naruto and Dorumon were giving them a brief tour around the city, the other Tamer had mentioned that he's currently living with a distant cousin who works for a government agency whose duty it was to police Digimon as they're trying to Bio Emerge into the real world. Though it also seems that Naruto's pretty new to the city as well, though where Naruto lived before coming to the city, the blond didn't say and it seems that Naruto's being pretty tight lip about it as well.

Since he's not really willing to talk about where he lived before arriving in West Shinjuku, he didn't press matter with Naruto either. Although, he can't help but wonder when he's going to be force to leave this dimension since he's already growing attached to the blond sitting across from him and knew that one day, he'll have to leave Naruto to go save the multiverse from the dark god once more. _'He kind of reminds me of Tai… only blond and has even more energy then Tai ever had.'_ He muses before playing his cards.

He manages to get his Viximon to Digivolve not only into Renamon but also put down two Gotsumon in defense stance as well. Naruto nods slightly before picking up the number of cards he needs for his hand. The wicked grin erupts on the whisker cheeked Tamer's face after a few seconds. Just before Naruto's about to play his cards, their Digivices act up and a few seconds later, Naruto's cell phone right out a song.

"Let me guess, a Digimon Bio Emerged." Naruto says in a flat tone, he lets loose a sigh at that. While he is getting better at playing this game, Naruto's luck seems to be in tonight. He figures that once he's better at this game that he'll never lose to the blond ever again. "Uh ah, right, I'm on it." Naruto says before closing the phone.

Quickly they both got their cards off the mat and into either their pocket or deck pouch. Naruto's already sprinting away with Dorumon at his heels. He stands there for a few seconds before recovering from his gawking. With a slight shake of his head, he picks up the mat and once he's done folding it, he stuffs it into a pocket before chasing after the blond. He notices that Cyberdramon was even father ahead then Naruto was, though it seems that Naruto's able to keep pace with Cyberdramon's flight path.

'_Well, you can't call him lazy if he can keep that pace up.'_ He muses as he follows them as best as he could. _'I wonder if Cyberdramon would be willing to give me a lift next time this happens…'_ He thinks as he begins to feel his muscles complain about the demanding pace that he's set.

By the time he arrives at the scene, Cyberdramon's already battling it out with what appears to be a metal armour Digimon with blue lightning acting as its wings. What's most interesting is the knife blade that coming out of the front of its body. "And that is?" He asks after he jogs up to where the blond is standing next to the purple furred rookie.

"According to my Digivice, that's BladeKuwagamon, a champion level machine Digimon that's got a virus attribute. It also says that blade has been Chrome Digizoid-itized." Naruto answers as Dorumon hums in agreement. "I'm surprised you didn't try to get Cyberdramon to back off so you can deal with this one." He admits and Naruto glances at him, Naruto's blue eyes met his for a few seconds before Naruto's gaze returns to watching Cyberdramon toy with the champion Digimon.

"Well, for one thing, Cyberdramon's an ultimate level Digimon while Dorumon can only achieve champion level. Then there's the fact that you're partner is always spoiling for a fight, so why get between his and his… 'prey.' Besides, I can sympathize as to why they keep Bio Merging, they're only looking for something they can't find in the Digital world. While I'm sure there are Digimon out there just seeking to destroy life as we know it, I believe they're few and far between." Naruto admits before sighing, he sighs as once more, the blond shows that there's more to him then what he's seen so far.

"I get this feeling that you'll never cease to amaze me, blondie." He says teasingly, Naruto blinks at him before chuckling. "That's me in a nut shell." The blond preteen says jokingly. He nods in agreement before watching Cyberdramon finish trying to get as much out of his current opponent as he can.

As the metal insectoid Digimon thrusts its blade, likely aiming for his partner's chest, Cyberdramon growls in annoyance and punches the trusting blade with his left hand. His partner moves to his left to avoid the misaimed thrust and within a few heart beats, the grey dragon type Digimon is now behind the champion level Digimon. "Erase Claw!" His partner snarls and the claws on both hands glow as Cyberdramon dives into the relatively un-protective back of BladeKuwagamon, since unlike the front the back lacks the protruding blade.

Other then a zapping screech, the scene before them was quiet as his partner downloads the data particles that made up the metal Digimon. Cyberdramon growls in annoyed way, it was clear that the battle hadn't satisfied him in the least and he could only sigh. "Well, I think that ends our evening." He tells Naruto in an apologetic way and Naruto shrugs.

"I guess. Any way, keep the cards and get some practice in, you never know, you might just beat me by next week." Naruto says, giving him a foxy grin. "I was thinking by this weekend." He states dryly and the blond just chuckles as Dorumon flicks his tail in amusement.

"Good luck with that goal, Ryo. I get the feeling that Naruto's luck is here to stay." The purple rookie says sagely, his arms were crossed over his chest as Dorumon stands his full height, using his tail for balance. "I'm hurt by your lack of faith, my furry friend. Truly hurt." He says in a fake hurt tone with his left hand over his chest.

"Later." Naruto says and he nods, he watches as the pair head off, likely in the direction of his uncle's apartment. He sighs as he turns to look at his partner, he felt kind of helpless at what to do with the forceful dragon at this time.

'_It would be so much easier if he could become Monodramon, I mean, Monodramon is still in there, right?'_ He wonders for a few seconds before dismissing those thoughts since he doubts wishful thinking will make it happen. Cyberdramon leans down slightly and picks him up, once in the nock of his arm, the ultimate level Digimon launches off the ground and soon they're traveling over the city, heading to a warehouse where his partner has taken to cool off.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Four Weeks Later**

**Digimon the Card Game Tournament**

"How did you talk me into this?" Ryo hisses at him and he just grins. "It was fairly simple, Henry's out of town visiting his grandparents on his dad's side of the family, so I couldn't very well put his name on the form now could I?" He replies cheerfully as he pins the paper with Ryo's number on his back.

"I'm really beginning to wonder if there is a 'Henry' since I have yet to meet the guy." Ryo grumbles, he can't help but think of Cyberdramon as Ryo continues to pretend to be reluctant to participate in this tournament. "It ever crossed your mind to put your name down?" Ryo adds as the other Tamer glares into his face.

"Sure did, heck, Henry mentioned it too come to think of it. But really, I'm not the one complaining about being bore now was I?" He answers as he pats the older Tamer on the shoulder. He wasn't going to add the fact that Henry also doubted Ryo's existence since for some unknown reason, every time he's about to say Ryo's name, something interrupts him or distracts him.

'_I'll admit, getting hit in the back of the head by a baseball that Kazu throw was odd, continually getting hit in by something that Kazu has touched is beginning to make me wonder if there's this conspiracy determined to keep me from saying Ryo's name at school.'_ He muses darkly to himself once Ryo's looking away from him. With a sigh, he also glances around at those that have managed to sign in before the registry was closed, though he would have thought that more would have turned out since the prize was to have yourself featured in the latest Digimon game that's about to come out.

'_Besides, Ryo needs a confidence boost. I mean, I can't help but keep winning all of our matches… True, it's pretty much the same result with everybody else that I go up against as well, but, with Ryo, I've TIRED to lose on purpose! Nothing works, which is kind of funny since I suck at what I wanted most to be.'_ He adds thoughtful, his musings end as over the speakers they're asking that people get seated and for the contestants to head off to where they're suppose to be.

"See you in the finishing circle." He says in the best cheery voice he could muster as he pats Ryo on the shoulder one last time. Ryo's eyes flash with irritation before sighing. "If I manage to win…" He hears Ryo mutter as the other Tamer walks away from him. Amusement flashes across his face before heading off to go find his seat. He has faith that Ryo will win this thing; after all, Ryo's the only one to last more then four rounds when they play against each other. It's not long before he manages to get to his seat, although it took some doing getting pass some of the people already settled down. He once more winces from having his foot stepped on for the fourth time as he manages to get by a rather heavy looking individual. And then, finally, he slides into his padded seat which is by the entrance into the arena, which places him against a concrete wall.

He had long since disregarded the people talking into the mic, all they were doing was going over what the prizes were and then went on to generate more hip about this game that the winner will star in. He privately was reminded of all those guest speakers that Iruka-sensei would have back when he was attending the academe. He closes his eyes as he feels a rush of homesickness as well as regret on leaving the way he did. He felt bad for not even getting the chance to write a letter or something to not just Iruka, but also to the old man Hokage and to the pair that work at his favourite Ramen bar.

He clinches his jaws as he forces those feelings away by focusing on Dorumon. _'Maybe I should go into a bit more detail about my past… I mean, that could help get rid of these feelings, right? I mean, it happens in the movies, so, it should work in real life, right?'_ He muses until the crowd around him roar in approval, startling him out of his depressing musing.

He blinks a few times before he notices that there were at least four tables set up. The card players currently on floor, eight of them he noted, had just finish sitting down at their assigned table. A red head catches his notice for a few seconds before he decides to watch the one he had the better view of. The players begin to shuffle their cards and the rooting quiets down to manageable levels, although there is a dim of murmuring voices, he can already regret the fact that he didn't bring any Aspirin as he begins to feel a slight pounding at his temples.

The first match to between the red head and a guy with an earring was the first to end. "Rika Nonaka is the winner of our first match, so a round of applause for our first winner!" The announcer exclaims and he plugs his ears as the crowd roars heartily. Rika doesn't seem too thrilled about this as she doesn't react to the crowd at large.

He watches as Rika heads off out of the arena, he shrugs mentally, deciding to keep an eye on her during future matches. He returns to watching the other three matches, trying to decide who'd win out of the matches. Though at this point, he kind of wished that he could have brought Dorumon with him.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

**Same Day**

He sticks his tongue out as he moves the game console to the left while Tally just chuckles at his antics. Riley's sitting back on the couch behind him, currently nursing a slight hang over. The pair were over to keep him company until they have to leave for their evening shift.

"Damn it! Why couldn't it turn faster?" He growls as his character rams into a wall for the fourth time during this course. "Too bad you're character doesn't turn as you move your console, huh?" Tally says teasingly.

"It would help even more if he had more then three fingers on each... hand." Riley throws in. He frowns as he looks down to look at his arms. He didn't see what's wrong with them, but then, compared to a human's, his were pretty short for his body. Although, he'll give them the bit about lacking four fingers and a thumb since it would give him a better grasp of the game console or TV remote.

As Tally presses a button to get rid of what's currently on the TV screen, he glances at the clock hanging on the wall in the kitchen. Yamaki keeps it around just encase there is a black out caused by a high level 'Wild One' Bio Emerging. With a shrug, he puts down the game console as Tally turns off the Game Cube so they could watch TV.

"I wonder how Ryo's doing in that card tournament." He muses, while he doesn't know how to interact with Cyberdramon that doesn't really apply to Ryo though. It also made him wonder what the ultimate level Digimon was doing while Ryo participated in this tournament; he hopes that the humanoid dragon hasn't gotten into any fights while Ryo's with his Tamer.

"Well, considering who's his regular opponent is, he's more then likely to win it." Riley muses before getting up to refill her mug. "Naruto definitely was born under a lucky star." Tally replies, agreeing with her co-worker. He shrugs; he doubts that even if he tried to tell them otherwise that they could change what the whisker blond had gone through.

Besides, his Tamer rarely mention his birth village and he's more then happy to leave the subject alone until Naruto's willing to talk about it. He wonders briefly if anybody back in Naruto's home village has ever given much thought of contacting him since Naruto left. After all, if anyone from there asked the right people, they would have phone here to check up on him.

As Riley returns from the kitchen, the red headed woman brought the box of pastries that she got before heading to the apartment. He waits for the two adult humans to pick something before he picks out a pastry. As he pops the cream bun into his mouth, the news cast switches out to talk with one of their reporters on location. He perks as he hears mention of the card tournament and moves to turn up the volume.

"It's been a quite exciting day here at the Digimon card tournament and the prize being a game character based on the winner of this tournament." The reporter at the event says. "So I take it there's been quite the gathering then?" The anchor woman states, her question directed at the reporter on location.

The reporter nods ever so slightly, it was hard for him to tell since the man occupied a small screen in the right top corner of the corner. "There was an ok turn out concerning that this is the first time an official tournament has been held. It would also seem that the crowd have their favourites among the players as well." The reporter on location answers. "And who might they be?" The anchor man asks.

"A young man named Ryo Akiyama and a young girl named Rika Nonaka, daughter of the famous model Rumiko Nonaka." The reporter replies. There was a lame joke that he didn't bother to pay much mind to it before the screen showing the on location report changes to display a red cross.

His current state of mind, he felt a great deal of pride of not only by the fact that Ryo's teacher had been his own partner, Naruto Uzumaki, but also in the fact that an actual Tamer had gain a great deal of favour from just one event. Although he'd feel a great deal more pride if Naruto had just entered the tournament himself but then, there were just times when Naruto seem to shun the spot light to push others into it. _'At least he's willing to share the lime light.'_

He snaps out of his thoughts as Riley's cell phone beeps. With a sigh, he's already going through his mental list of groceries so he has a good idea of what he wants for supper since it's more then likely that the pair of adults with him will be leaving sooner then expected.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**West Shinjuku Park**

"I've decided on a nickname for ya, Ryo." He informs the other Tamer now that Ryo has won the tournament. "Oh? And what's the nickname?" The taller Tamer asks carefully as they pick up Cyberdramon from the shred that Dorumon and him had lived for a couple of days. "DK, short for Digimon King, not to be confused with Donkey Kong from that show Donkey Kong Country." He tells the other Tamer in a cheerful voice. He stops as Ryo stops; the other boy begins to groan on hearing that nickname. "You got to be kidding me… You think that's a good nickname?" Ryo asks him, it's clear that Ryo doesn't find the name to be amusing.

"It's shorter then you're original name and already people are thinking of you as the Digimon King, too, you know." He points out as he turns to face his friend. Ryo sighs and shakes his head as he replies, "But you always win when we play! If anything, you're nickname should be the Digimon King, besides, it's only shorter by one letter."

His grin widens as he answers, "So what? Officially, you're the Digimon King and I'm just the advisor of the King. Or maybe I'm the general, you know, the guy better at doing the actual work while the King gets all the credit by the simple fact that he hired the General." Ryo cracks a grin and he gives Ryo a toothy smile before he turns away from the teen to continue on to the concrete shed that Cyberdramon is suppose to be staying at.

"This coming from a preteen who looks like he's got a blond hedgehog on top of his head and for eyes a pair of sapphires." Ryo says in a bland tone as his buddy starts off after him. He sticks out his tongue at his friend and Ryo rolls his eyes at his childish antics as he shakes his head. Ryo sighs theatrically and in a mock despairing tone says, "It's so hard to be the mature one, you're always dealing with troublesome children."

He snorts slightly at the word troublesome; it kind of reminds him of one of his cut buddies, Shikamaru. "If you had it your way, you'd be highly anti-social bookworm." He retorts as he looks forward and folds his arms behind his head as he continues to walk in front of one of his best human friends as he does count Henry as a best friend along with Ryo.

Something bounces off the back of his head, he pauses, momentarily before he lowers his arms and glances to see Ryo whistling innocently. He narrows his eyes slightly as he says, "Ok, you're going down DK!" Ryo grins slightly before taking off at a dead run away from him as a trail of laughter marks his passage. With a slight smirk, he mentally counts to twenty before taking off after Ryo.

After a game slightly game of rough and rumble, they both laid on the grass panting. Unlike Ryo, he's not really winded from their mock combat but he felt slightly giddy about just goofing off like he'd seen the other guys back at Hidden Leaf do with close friends. He only worried slightly about accidentally injuring Ryo during their little scuff since he knew he's in better shape then his friend and fellow Tamer.

"You know, that kind of helped." Ryo says between pants. He sits up so he can look at Ryo's face. "Oh?" He asks and Ryo nods slightly. "Well, it's been a while since I just let go and acted my age. I can't recall the last time I felt so… free." Ryo admits softly, his gaze softens as he turns away as he nods, he gets what Ryo's saying, after all, he's never really got a chance to act his age either.

True, he'd goof off to get attention and there were plenty of times where people considered him an idiot, but really, how was he suppose to know what most other kids know when he didn't have anyone around to teach him or take time to get to know more about him. True, Iruka-sensei was beginning to see him as somebody but the man also expected something from him that he couldn't give since he didn't know what the man had wanted or how to give it. Then a thought occurred to him that caused a smile to erupt on his face.

'_But maybe I got a second chance to do it with Yamaki.'_ He muses as he glances at a random tree trunk. "So, you and your dad ever do much together?" He asks, it's kind of off topic but he wouldn't mind getting an idea of how close Ryo was with his parental unit. He doesn't see Ryo's face but he glances at Ryo once his friend and fellow Tamer says, "We don't… we're not… exactly seeing eye to eye at the moment." He winces slightly on hearing that. "Well, if it helps, I'm not sure my uncle and I are even facing the same direction." He admits as Ryo sits upright.

"That bad, huh?" Ryo asks and he shrugs. "Well, yea, I guess. He's a bit of a workaholic; his focus is on overseeing Hypnos and trying to find a way to keep Digimon from Bio Emerging. Dorumon and I spend more time with Tally and Riley then with him." He tells his friend.

Ryo winces in sympathy as Ryo looks away from him. "Funny, it seems that the point of conflict for us seems to be Digimon." Ryo says and he gives his buddy a confused look. "I don't get it. The only reason Yamaki and I met is because of Dorumon." He tells Ryo, his friend blinks and studies him for a moment. "Err… Huh?" Ryo asks in confusion.

"I wouldn't have come to West Shinjuku if I hadn't hooked up with Dorumon. You could even say that because of Digimon I stopped running _away_ and began to run _towards_ something. Besides, Dorumon's become like a brother to me, I can't picture life without him at my side." He tells Ryo as he elaborates his previous statement.

He notices the oddly thoughtful look on Ryo's face once he said that, Ryo seems to be lost in thought for a few seconds. "Anyway, it's getting late, so we better get to the shed, _Hige_." Ryo says with a toothy grin at the last word. He snorts as he shakes his head at the so call original nickname that DK came up with. "Real original… DK." He says once he's on his feet, its Ryo's turn to roll his eyes and shake his head. He helps his friend to his feet and they continued on in a comfortable silence.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong **

**Monday Morning**

"Hey Henry!" He hears Naruto call out as the blond spots him by the sport's shed. He grins at his energetic blond friend as he nods in Naruto's direction. "So, how was your weekend?" He asks the blond once Naruto's about five to four feet away from him.

"Fine, too bad you weren't around to watch the tournament with me." Naruto says and he smiles slightly before asking, "Here I thought you'd be watching with you're other friend… I still don't know his name." Naruto's eyes sparkle with mischief as Naruto's grin widens slightly as his friend answers, "I signed him up, anyway. By the way, I've dubbed him with the nickname of DK."

"And what's his nickname for you? Blondie?" He asks his friend with an easy grin on his face. "No, he'd picked out Hige for my nickname." Naruto says with a slight rolling of his eyes. "Hige, whisker, seems to be a good one considering what's on you're cheeks." He muses and Naruto gives him a mock glare before shrugging.

"I guess we're going to have to think up a good nickname for you one of these days." Naruto muses and he snorts softly, not like that'll ever happen. "So, just think, a few more days until New Years." He muses as he changes the subject. It still surprises him that he's known Naruto for only a few short months but it already it feels longer then that.

"So, does that mean I'm invited over?" Naruto inquires, giving him a hopeful look. For a moment, the look on the blonde's face reminded him of a hopeful puppy. The moment passes and he answers, "Yea, it seems my parents want to met the 'hooligan' who keeps getting me involved with the pranks that occur around the school."

"Ah, and here I was looking forward to meeting your parents and siblings." Naruto says in a sad tone. "You should be an actor." He notes in a teasing tone. His friend rolls his eyes at that before saying, "It could have happened to anyone."

He snorts as he corrects his friend's statement, "Sure it could. It's possible for Kazu and Kenta to 'accidentally' eat some pudding that's been laced with liquid laxative and then found their washroom stalls sealed with sticky tac. The only reason they were found was because one of their friends found them locked in their stalls and went to get the janitor."

"Exactly, it could have happened to anyone." Naruto says with a few nods, as if agreeing with him that it was all an accident. He sighs in defeat, it's clear that the blond wasn't going to admit that he helped that event to happen. True, he supplied the sticky tac and the pudding, but that's all he did to help that incident take place and that it was Naruto who did the rest.

"So, what time should I arrive at to celebrate the Chinese New Year?" Naruto asks, going back to their original topic. "You can walk with me to the apartment after school." He informs the blond and Naruto grins winningly at him. "I'll be sure to bring my appetite." His best friend says cheerfully and he chuckles on hearing that.

"Hope you like frog legs." Is his finishing remark as the warning bell rings to signal that they should start to get to class before the final bell rings and which means that they're late to class. Naruto and him spilt up as they head to their lockers, they'll see each other within a few minutes since they're in the same classroom.

'_Well, at least I can't say that my life is boring.'_ He muses to himself as he reflects on how much his life has changed since Naruto began to seek out his company. Ever since he beat up that bully when he was younger, people kind of avoided him and he in turn avoided them. In time, people forgot about the incident and somebody else became the center of gossip, though he never forgot what a moment of anger could do and did his best to stay in control of his emotions so such an incident doesn't happen again.

"Sorry!" Says a kid who's in his class, one of the ones that's regularly hang out with Kazu and Kenta. It would seem that the brown haired kid is in a rush to get to his locker, it's likely that the kid expects to be late as well. "It's alright, no harm done." He says to the excitable boy. With a smile of relief on his face, the other nods before walking quickly through the halls, trying to get to his locker before the final bell rings.

Once he's closed his locker, it takes him about a minute or two to get to the classroom with his text books and book bag. It seems that Naruto beat him again. There's a slight exasperated look on the blond's face as the blond is getting ganged up on by a pack of girls.

It would seem that Naruto's going to have a date for the Valentine's Day dance whether he likes it or not. Two girls glance his way and a calculating look enters in their eyes as they size him up. As he keeps his face carefully blank, his thoughts circle around just what Naruto's said to the pack before his entrance into the classroom. It would seem that he'll have a date for the dance as well.

- o 0 o -


	6. Chapter 6

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Chinese New Year**

He places Henry's little sister, Suzie, on his shoulders without much effort before walking into the apartment following his good friend Henry. Suzie seems thrilled to have a piggy back rid as he 'guesses' her age. "So, if you're not a grandmother, are you a teen?" He asks the young girl on his shoulders.

Suzie replies with a giggle while Henry's older siblings share amused looks, barely suppressing their own giggles. "No, guess again!" The little girl on his shoulders chirps cheerfully. "Are you sure? You have the look of a rebel." He counters, very much enjoying this little game that they started barely two minutes ago as he takes off his shoes since it's too cold out to be walking around wearing sandals.

One of Suzie's sisters stifles a chuckle on hearing the word 'rebel.' "I'll have you know I'm a princess, isn't that right daddy?" Suzie asks her father who's just entered into the living room; he studies the head of the Wong family as the man turns to answer his daughter. "Yes you are, you're daddy's little princess." Janyu Wong answers his youngest before addressing him.

"I'm Janyu Wong, welcome to our lovely abode." Janyu says and he introduces himself as he shakes the man's hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and thanks." Soon enough introductions go around the room as he's introduced to Henry's older brother, Rinchei and Henry's other sister, Jaarin.

He helps Suzie get off of his shoulders so she could go sit on her father's lap, their little guessing game over as Suzie chats away with her father. He sits down on a chair that's next to Henry, soon enough he's pulled into Henry and his old siblings discussions about a video game that's going to be released in a few weeks.

As supper draws near, he found himself to be relaxed and highly comfortable among the members of the Wong house hold. It also caused a familiar ache within him, but he's determined to enjoy this while it lasts since one never knew what the future would bring, though he hopes that this won't be the last time he's invited over. It makes him feel bad that he never pushed Ryo into coming with him, but then, it seemed as if neither Henry nor Ryo were destined to met.

_'Or met when I'm not around to introduce them, after all, for all I know, by tomorrow that voice will show up and collect on that debt.'_ He thinks sourly as he recalls just what was responsible for getting him away from that situation. While he felt a bit like a coward for feeing in that manner, he couldn't help but think up reason why it was for the best.

It takes him a few minutes to wrench his mind out of that circle of thought, after all, he's having a good time at the Wong's, why drudge up the past here and now? With a slight shake of his head, he focuses back into the discussion going on between the older Wong children, though it would seem that Henry, too, had become lost in thought while he had turned his gaze inwards. After a few seconds of thought, he places his hand on Henry's shoulder, causing the vest wearing preteen to become slightly startled.

A small reassuring grin causes Henry to relax and to return the grin. "Hum, dad? I'm going to show Naruto my room, ok?" Henry asks, turning to look at his father, it would seem that Suzie has gone from sitting on her father's lap to sitting between her older siblings. With a nod as Janyu is busy talking on his cell phone, Henry gets to his feet, he follow suit within a few seconds.

Henry leads him to a slightly open door. The room within seems to be filled with computers, or to be more specific, filled with computer monitors. He turns his attention to the rest of the room; he notices a few game packages and CD cases littering the floor. There wasn't much in the way of cloths lying around the room, although Henry seems to sigh before trying to clear up the game packages and scattered CDs.

"I guess Suzie's responsible for the mess?" He asks and Henry just sighs even more heavily. "Be glad you're an only child." Henry says in a bland tone. He chuckles slightly as he moves to help Henry clean up. It didn't take too long before the items were back where they belong.

As Henry turns on the tower, he settles down on the bed as he waits for Henry to say something. "If I recall correctly, you somehow blew up one of the school's computers." Henry muses thoughtfully as amusement taints his tone. "Don't blame me! How was I supposed to know that soda pop and keyboards don't mix?" He says defensively.

Henry turns to look at him with an eyebrow raised. "… Fine, it was a water balloon hitting the computer's plug in." He corrects himself and Henry snorts. "But I didn't bring the water balloons into the room, I just happened to find them. I don't know who's they were." He adds and Henry shakes his head slightly, clearly finding his defensive attitude to be amusing.

"Didn't they try to call your uncle?" Henry asks and he shrugs. "They might have, but knowing my dear uncle, well, he's pretty busy so he sent one of his subordinates in his stead, which is usual Riley. Tally sometimes tags along just to see what I did this time." He tells Henry before asking, "Why'd you want to know? It happened, what, in some point in December?"

"Well, since you're computer illiterate, I've decided that as your friend, to keep you from blowing up or crashing any more computers. So, get over here and take notes." Henry orders and within a few seconds, he's standing behind Henry, listening to his friend as he goes over the what, hows, and whys. Some of his unspoken questions were answered without him having to voice them.

About an hour after they've been in the room, Henry's brother Rinchei stands at the door way, calling them for supper. He pauses at the door way, waiting for Henry to finish shutting down the computer monitor. Henry turns off the lights before closing the door. He then heads for the kitchen table, his mouth watering already at the scents that were drifting out of that room.

-(V)-

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Training Ground**

He takes a break after breathing out roughly six or eight giant fireballs. His throat and a great deal of his mouth were aching from some burns he likely received over doing his favourite jutsu, the one that marks an Uchiha's right of passage. A scowl fixates on his pale white face, his coal coloured eyes glare at some tree trunk before him.

He hates how he felt just hours ago, being hunted down like some fox fleeing a pack of hounds. The hatred of knowing that nothing he did seemed to deter those blasted, turncoat parasites that are always trying to latch themselves onto him that are also known as his fan club. _'And it just keeps getting worst!'_ He thinks darkly to himself over the latest antics that keep getting worse and worse.

_'The funny thing is, it all started to go down hill when that idiot Uzumaki vanished.'_ He muses as he recalls the blond who was at the bottom of the class. There were plenty of rumours of what happened to the class clown but none of them were ever confirmed. Many of the rumours do agree on one point though, the blond clown managed to beat up Mizuki after learning some forbidden jutsu from the Forbidden scroll that he stole from the Hokage Tower. What happened beyond that point varies from then on.

More then a few people believed that Uzumaki had switched loyalties from Leaf when one of the other Hidden villages offered to promote him straight to Chuunin rank. There were a few who say that the blond was offered the ranking of a Jonin from Hidden Cloud. Hell, some say that Uzumaki was recruited by a criminal organization that's so secret that the Kages were in an agreement to keep any information relating to this group a plus S ranked secret.

Then there were a few rumours about packs with demons, some going as far to say that Uzumaki made some kind of deal with the ghost of the Kyuubi, who plans on first overthrowing the god of death, and then getting his vengeances on the village that killed him. On the flip side, a few say that some god took pity on the blond and carried him away to some secret monastery to be trained as the god's personal avatar on earth. There were stories that Uzumaki is a key figure in deciding whether or not the world is coming to an end.

He had only scuffed at those kinds of rumours; after all, what's so great about that blond clown anyway? He personally believed that somebody just came along, got the idiot to follow them out of Fire Country, and then did away with the annoying blond pest before taking off with the scrolls the blond had stolen. _'Besides, if anyone's going to try and recruit academy students, I'd be the one they'd work on.'_ He thinks to himself, unaware that he said it out loud.

_'You'd like to think so, do you?'_ He stiffens on hearing that. "Who's there? Show yourself coward!" He snarls out, a kunai already in his hand as he takes a fighting stance as his eyes scan the area.

_'Such pride, it reminds me of why I hated Lucemon so. Ah, that brings back memories…'_ The voice muses, he has no idea who Lucemon was but he didn't like being compared to anyone, especially to his ex-brother. "Whoever you are, you don't want to miss with me!" He counters and whoever it was, just laughs softly which causes the hairs on his neck to rise.

_'How do you know that you can take me on? You can't even see me and already you assume you can defeat me. I can't believe you're the top student of your class. That Uzumaki boy, now, he's someone that should have been made the grade, he might have acted the role of the clown but it's clear that the village was holding him back. After all, he's been gone from this world in less then a year and already he's mastered more forbidden jutsus then most of this village Jonin could ever hope to get their hands on let alone pull off. Such a bright boy, young Naruto turned out to be.'_ The voice muses in a wistful tone.

Bale threatens to creep up his throat and into his mouth on hearing somebody **praising** the blond idiot. "Come out and say that to my face, if you dare!" He roars as his whole being shakes with barely controlled outrage.

Once more laughter echoes through the clearing, if he weren't shaking from rage, he might be shivering from the eeriness of this guy's laughter. _'You're not too sharp, are you? Oh, you do fine when it comes to controlled learning experiences, but when it comes to thinking on your own, you just keep stumbling around. You even allowed your own brother to chart out your future as well. Perhaps I should just withdraw my interest in you now, boy. It seems you're all surface without any depth…'_ The voice says.

He grinds his teeth as he clutches his other hand into a fist. He glares straight ahead for a few seconds before asking, "If you're not here in this clearing, then where are you located?" He swears he could _feel_ this guy smiling as the guy replies in an approving tone, _'Finally, an intelligent response. To answer your question would take too much time; let us simply say that I am in a different dimension, one that my enemies hopes to remain my prison.'_

His interest perks on hearing the word 'dimension' and bits of his outrage ebbs out of his system, leaving him emotionally drained. "If you have Naruto, then what do you need me for?" He asks slowly, trying to keep his exhaustion from his tone.

_'Oh, the boy is doing fine, but he's currently occupied with doing something for me and I fine myself looking for someone to open the door of my prison. Someone capable of the same feats as Naruto but will act in the shadows as he acts in the light. Naruto's more then enough to keep my would be wardens attention away from noticing my interference as I dabble with portals leading to other dimensions. Seeking out promising young warriors such as yourself.'_ The guy informs him, he frowns slightly, but he's thoughts were on the fact that according to this… entity, the blond whisker marked idiot has access to some highly valuable scrolls. Scrolls that might be able to help him kill his brother…

"So if I sign up, I'll get the chance to look at this jutsu scrolls that the Dobe has access to?" He asks the being. _'I can give you better scrolls then what Naruto has.'_ The being says and he finally asks after a few minutes, "So then, I guess I'll just have to show you which ninja-in-training is the more superior choice." With that being said, everything shifts around him until he passes out as his field of view goes black.

-(V)-

**Daemon**

**Dark Ocean**

He truly can't believe how much of an idiot this Sasuke is, but then, the boy had been hounded non-stop by groups of girls that were members of his fan club. Another contributing factor might also be the constant stream of praise the boy receives, he'll wager that his previous teacher even went so far as to praise the way the boy would hold his pencil. The boy lived a very comfortable life, well other then a bit of emotional hardship that occurred when his elder brother kill off his clan on the order of those old men sitting on the council of Hidden Leaf.

He's had plenty of practice dealing with emotionally preteens, be it those that were his underlings and then those that were standing between him and his objective. _'Now it's up to that Gazimon to keep the whelp in line. Besides, if Sasuke does find a way to betray me, I could always call in Naruto to do away with him.'_ He muses as he recalls how Taichi had been bounded and determine to stop Neo. It's more then likely that it'll be the same way between the two preteen ninjas.

-(V)-

**Gazimon**

**Tamer Digital World**

He sneers at the fallen form of what seems to be a human child. While he did owe Daemon from keeping him from ending up on display with IceDevimon's other 'collections,' he wasn't looking forward to partnering up with a human. _'Besides, I might as well put a neon target on my back; I'd be deleted in a much more honourable fashion.'_ He scowls as he recalls the rumours about how downloading a partner Digimon will give one a one-way ticket to the real world.

With a sigh, he bends down and pokes the human. It would seem that the boy fainted during the trip between worlds. With a groan as he realised that he'll have to _carry_ the boy out of the area since it's more then likely that one of the Sovereign's servants were on their way to investigate the dimensional portal. _'Knowing my luck, it'll be a Deva.'_ He grumbles as he picks up the head and shoulders of the human, moving his body under the boy's chest area before dragging the boy away from the entry spot.

Muttering curses about every five minutes, he finally begins to pant after about forty minutes of dragging the unconscious human to the closest shady spot. Another twenty minutes and he lets go of the pale human's shoulders and kneeled in the cooling shade, panting heavily. Ears drooping down, almost covering his face, he can't help but be amazed at how _heavy_ the boy was.

_'Who'd thought that humans of that size could be so heavy? Stupid, big headed Megas with plans of grandeur that they lack the tiniest bit of common sense.'_ He thinks darkly as he finally turns to face the resting human, sitting down with his tail twitching ever so often. He glares at the human boy, wondering which way would lead to a slower deletion, going up against that IceDevimon or being an underling to some villainous Mega who's confident enough to challenge the host computer…

A minor sandstorm brews up, but doesn't last very long. Just after night sweeps through the land, a bag that likely contains things for the young human that he's forced to look after. Other then sniff at the bag, hoping that there might be something that he could eat, he hadn't had a meal in weeks, but otherwise he pretty much left the bag alone.

Finally, the human finally begins to show signs of life by groaning and balling his hands into a pair of fists. As he gazes at the pale human, the boy rolls onto his back for a few seconds before sitting up right. He watches as the boy shakes some sand out of his black locks.

"So, you're finally up. I was beginning to wonder if you went brain dead or something." He says in a dry tone. The boy's head snap around and the human glares at him, not that the glare really affects him, not when he's faced off against more threatening opponents then this boy. "And what the heck are you suppose to be?" The boy growls at him as the human gives him a quick look. "I'm a Digimon, but to be specific, I'm a Gazimon." He tells the human in a boring tone as he gives the boy a flat look.

"…" The boy just stares at him, trying to intimate him into giving out more information then that. He keeps the bore look on his face, while he's getting slightly annoyed that this human thought that he could be bossed around so easily.

As the boy tries to intensify his glare, he snorts at the look. "If you think you're a tough guy, think again. I can beat your pale white ass from here to the real world." He states with a slight hint of amusement. "You think so, monster?" The boy sneers, getting to his feet.

"Oh yea, definitely." He answers as he, too, gets to his feet with his tail swishing slightly in anticipation for a fight. Though he didn't stand as tall as the human, he smirks as he flexes his fore claws.

He watches as the boy takes a ready stance, he doesn't bother to do so; he just waits patiently for the human to lose patience and charges him. It wasn't long before the human charges him with some kind of knife clasped in his hand. He sidesteps the attack, punching the preteen in the stomach before elbowing him in the back.

He moves about a foot away from the boy, waiting for the boy to recover from the combo. A few seconds and the boy stands back up, the boy's black eyes narrowing as the boy's face concords from a mask of pain to outrage. With a yell, the boy charges once more, this time much more focused on what he's doing, not that it helps much as he blocks the punches the boy throws.

As the remains on the defensive, he makes mental notes of the boy's faults. After all, while rage was an ok fuel, it shouldn't be what sustains one through a fight. Even now, the anger was beginning to grow and starting to overwhelm the boy's consciousness and judgement. The boy's movements were becoming sloppy, less graceful then they were just a few heart beats ago.

As the boy leaps away, something he wasn't expecting, he watches as the kid's hands seem to blur and then the boy lands, taking a deep breathe as he brings on of his hands to his mouth. His eyes bulge in surprise as a stream of fire comes out of the guy's mouth. While he didn't move out of the way of the stream of fire, he does bring his arms up and covers his face.

"So you want to use special attacks? Take this! Paralyze Breath!" He shouts, charging towards the human. Yellow dust comes out of his mouth as he flips over the human; the boy gets a face full of yellow powder. The boy falls to his knees and he then knocks the guy out with a hit to the back of the head.

"Bastard." He growls at the fallen human, he's now all worked up and the kid can't take one of his special attacks without being able to endure it. He mentally adds spoiled to the boy's faults, since it seems as if the boy's never suffered any real physical hardship before arriving to this world.

"I hope you suffer when Daemon tires of you." He snarls as he flips the boy onto his back so that the boy doesn't breath in too much sand. He rather not deal with an injured human on top of it all.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

**Shinjuku Park**

He sniffs the concrete wall, wondering what it is that smells so familiar that it causes a slight ache in his chest. He racks his claws across the back wall, pondering how much trouble it would be to not only break through the wall, but the reaction that it will cause in Yamaki. Pulling his forelimb away from the wall, he heads out of the shed.

With his Tamer busy at Henry's place, celebrating the Chinese New Year, he grew bored of staying within the apartment, so he left. Though he remembers to take that sling pack that Naruto put some money into so that if he ever leaves the apartment, he could buy stuff, be it food to some game that catches his eye as he window shops through the shopping district.

While he rarely leaves the apartment when Naruto's not around, he does appreciate the thought behind the gesture. He smiles slightly as he remembers that one tourist group that had him pose for those pictures. They had only thought him some guy dressed up in a costume and that he was advertising for a local game shop.

As he closes the gate leading into the shelter, he looks around the park as he notices how late it's gotten. With a shake of his head, he walks down the steps, his thoughts circling around his hunger. He knew a nice bakery that wasn't far, one that he's passed a few times but never entered. _'Might as well see if they're still open and if they're not, I could always go that MacDonald's that's closed to the apartment complex.'_ He muses thoughtfully, he recalls how good their burgers were as he daydreams as he walks through the park.

It seems that he arrived just in time as it would seem that he's got about ten minutes before the bakery closes. He walks through the sliding door; he notices a young bore looking kid seated behind the counter. A quick sniff reveals that the boy likely knows his Tamer, so with a shrug, he begins to examine what's on display.

Soon enough, he's got a general idea of what he wants to buy, so he walks up to the counter. He notices that the boy is busy doodling something on a pad of paper. "Excuse me, but I don't suppose you can help me? I'm kind of buying in bulk so I'll be needing some help getting it all into this pack." He says as he pats the sling type pack that's hanging around his upper body. The brown haired preteen looks up and his eyes widen in surprised. "Cool costume! What kind of Digimon are you posing as?" The boy asks as the boy gets off the stool. "A Dorumon." He answers as he turns to show the kid what he wants.

He's careful not to swish his tail as well as keeping jaws slightly parted; he'll have to try to talk without moving his jaws too much since he's sure that costumes weren't capable of that kind of movement from what he recalls seeing on TV. "It must get pretty hot walking around with such a thick coat of fur." The boy muses as the boy puts some pastries into a box for him.

He chuckles slightly before answering, "A bit, but then, it's still slightly chilly this time of year." The boy nods in agreement as the preteen moves to the next case. "Guess so, it is only February after all." The kid replies, he hums his agreement, though truthfully, he's never been anywhere beyond the dessert plane in the Digital world so the whole drastic change in the climate is pretty new to him.

One the boxes of pastries were in his bag, he pays the kid what he owes and heads out of the shop calling out, "Well, Happy Chinese New Years." The kid looks startled before smiling brightly as he nods his thanks. "You too." The kid replies as the door shuts behind him.

_'Nice kid, he'd be a great Tamer if he ever hooks up with a Digimon.'_ He muses to himself as he heads back to the apartment. It's unlikely that Yamaki would be home and Naruto's likely going to be home late. _'I wonder what Ryo and Cyberdramon are up to tonight? I haven't sensed any Bio Emergance tonight so I'm pretty sure that's not it… Ah well, it's not important, after all, everybody desires some privacy.'_ He muses to himself, knowing that Naruto and himself have things they don't want people to know about.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akamiya**

He sighs as he lies on the couch, slightly bored out of his mind as his partner, who's currently in his rookie form of Monodramon, hums along to this Disney movie's song. The movie is called Oliver and Company, he's not sure if it existed back in what had been his home dimension or not, since he never really paid much mind to American shows and movies. A soft smile graces his face as he watches his partner enjoy the kiddie movie about how a stray kitten ends up with a pack of street wise mutts and how their friendship is tested when the kitten finds a nice home with a slightly rich girl.

At the thought of his home dimension, he frowns as the few memories he has of the events that lead him to leave that dimension. His memories of the Chosen were kind of steeped in emotional then any recall of what they've done to evoke those emotions. He also gets a slight lump on thinking about his previous partnerships with two very special Digimon.

This brings him to his current dilemma with his current partner, Cyberdramon. Unlike Veemon and Agumon, Cyberdramon's hunger goes more towards a lust for battle then a lust for food. Something that his partner isn't getting enough of while they're in the real world since for one thing, there isn't that many Digimon living in the real world and for another, it would seem that Cyberdramon has a slight obsession on fighting Naruto, a friend and fellow Tamer who's very much human.

At first, he thought that it was just a passing thing, something that the great humanoid dragon would grew out of, but if anything, his partner hasn't gotten over it and he's not sure how long it'll be until Cyberdramon acts on his own and goes after the blond. A cool weight settles in his midsection when he imagines the outcome of that. After all, Naruto's become a really good friend to him, one that he needed after all that he's gone through.

_'One that I really don't want to lose… Though I can't help but wonder, why Naruto and not Dorumon? I mean, it would make more sense if Cyberdramon was focused on battling Dorumon, after all, he is Naruto's partner and a Digimon. I wonder if Monodramon would like to explain that for me.'_ He wonders to himself as he stares up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Monodramon?" He calls out. "Yea, Ryo?" The small dragon replies. "How come when you're Cyberdramon, you keep looking for a fight with Naruto instead of with Dorumon? It's been bugging me more often lately." He says to his partner as he shifts his gaze from the ceiling to here his partner is sitting.

Monodramon blinks before frowning as he crosses his arms across his chest. "There's something that just calls to… **him**." The purple coloured rookie finally says after a few minutes of thought. A slight chill makes its way down his spine. "Great, just what we need, for **him** to start up his plans for domination." He says with a scowl.

"Actually, I think something's already happening, but it doesn't involve **him** at all. I'm not sure, but, well, there's a feeling that Naruto's kind of involved with something that's stirring up the multi-verse. Early this afternoon, something arrived from another dimension; they didn't land here in the real world but in the Digital one connected to this world. Whether or nor whatever it was survived the trip..." The purple dragon with fins on his arms shrugs as he adds, "Who knows? If it's weakened from the trip and if the native Digimon are as aggressive as we think they are, then it's likely already been deleted and it's data has been loaded."

He nods in agreement, they both know that those few Digimon that managed to Bio Emerge, as those at Hypnos coins the term, were pretty violent individuals. Though, why these Digimon keep Bio Emerging and what they're searching for is something that escapes not just him, but also Hypnos as well. Although if anyone ever asks Naruto, the blond Tamer seems to believe that they're crossing over to find a partner or to get some kind of power increase before returning to the Digital world.

Either way, this was distracting him from his original question. "So, you really don't know what it is that causes you, as Cyberdramon, to challenge Hige?" He asks and Monodramon nods in agreement, he sighs as he shakes his head, disbelieving that there seems to be no real reason why the two want to fight each other, since Naruto never seemed to be afraid of fighting his partner when he's an Ultimate level Digimon.

"You're both nuts, Naruto for willing to accept the challenge and Cyberdramon for issuing it." He declares after a few minutes, a slight grin appears on Monodramon's face; it seems that his partner found his wording to be amusing. With a dramatic sigh, he lets his head hit the pillow with a thud, and then looks up at the ceiling.

He received a few answers and now he's got more questions swimming within his head then before. _'Maybe next time I should ask Hige about it, maybe I'll get why he's willing to fight Cyberdramon.'_ He muses as Monodramon turns up the volume of the TV.

**- o 0 o -**


	7. Chapter 7

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Tamer Digital World**

He feels power surge within him as the data of that fresh Digimon enters into his being. While he's unable to beat any Digimon that's rookie and higher, he decided that it's fine and that he'll just take time to build up his strength by deleting and absorbing the data from those that he could defeat. Something that used to cause a slight surge of envy and bitterness until he finally figured out how to mimic the practice using his Chakra.

He doesn't linger for long, knowing full well that if he's caught by whoever's taking care of the pillow looking baby Digimon will want _his_ 'data' and while he's confident that he'll eventually be powerful enough to hand himself against any class and level of Digimon, that time is not here now. Channelling some Chakra into his legs, he leaps away from the nursery, heading towards the forest not too far from this position.

Though it's been two weeks since he's arrived here in this world, he's abilities have increased more then what he expected them to. It also helped that he's receiving a steady flow of scrolls from his… benefactor. _'And now that I'm absorbing Digimon's data, I'll get stronger even faster! You better be watching you're back, _**_brother_**_, I'm coming for you soon enough and you'll find that I'm no longer the coward you accused me of being!'_ He thinks with unholy glee as he races through the meadow to get to the forest where he's currently training.

-(V)-

**Gazimon**

'_So, that's what he's been up to… I wondered why the locals were getting edgy. Arrogant brat been going around deleting and uploading fresh and in-training data, the fool doesn't even wait a bit before going hunting again.'_ He thinks darkly, while he's got no real quarrels about uploading an uppity in-training, going after fresh Digimon just… didn't sit well with him, after all, it wasn't very sporting since they're pretty much just babies and don't have a lot of life experience either.

"Daemon will be interested in this bit of news." He muses out loud before adding in a thoughtful tone, "But how can a human body store Digimon data? Let alone be able to handle it or even download it…" With a sigh, Gazimon looks down at the pair of sleeping fresh Digimon that he managed to sneak out of the nursery before the twit of a human attacked the nursery.

He puts them down on the ground, careful not to jar them too much before heading off to the spot where Daemon set up that broken TV that acts like a com-link between dimensions. He wonders how Daemon will react hearing this tidbit of news about his human 'pet.' But then, it's likely that the mega level Digimon already knows from observing the boy's comings and goings.

-(V)-

**Azulongmon**

**Tamer Digital World**

As the screen created by an energy tear fades black, he sighs as he closes one set of eyes, sadness emanating from within his being. It would seem that Daemon hasn't wasted any time and already has two humans more or less under his command. As he opens the set of eyes that he had closed, a small group of Digi-Gnomes circling around in the air before him and within seconds, two holo-images of the humans appear.

One shows a young blond with sparkling blue eyes with whisker marks on his cheeks. A Digivice that's much like the one Ryo now has hanging from a belt loop. The image of the young blond focuses in on the Digivice, allowing him to see the finer details of said device that is dark red in colour with grey trim that also helps to show off the odd symbols around the screen.

Though what really startled him was as the image of the Digivice fades, an image of a Digimon fazes in to replace it. Blinking in surprise as he realises just what kind of Digimon is hovering before him. "A Dorumon, huh? One that also has the X-Antibody active to boot, huh? I wonder how that happened…" He mutters out loud to himself, trying to think of a way that the prevention program was over come.

With a slight sigh, he focuses on the second image, the one that's as dark and cold as the blond was light and welcoming. The image wasn't any different then the scene he watched just moments ago as this human child proceeded to massacre a nursery filled with fresh Digimon just so he can absorb their data. It had been easy to track this… Sasuke down, after all, the Gazimon has stay in constant connect with Daemon, messaging the Demon Lord about every second night since the boy arrived in this world.

True, they all felt something crossover months ago, but they never did think that whatever it was had survived. It would seem that they were mistaken and not only had the boy named Naruto lived through the trip through the great void between the dimensions, but had thrived. It also seemed that a village full of Gotsumon had befriended the boy and had tried to keep his presence in the Digital world as secret as they could.

'_The blond I'm sure we'd be able to live with, but not the dark haired one. But how to go about removing Sasuke without tipping Daemon off before we make our move…'_ He wonders, knowing that at the moment, it's best that this problem is dealt with before Sasuke's capable of defeating rookie level Digimon, since there were more of those around then fresh and in-training Digimon.

After all it's typical when a Digimon reaches rookie level, it's about that time that they being to wonder away from the community that it hatched and grew up in. _'Though there are always exceptions to that rule, proven by that Dorumon.'_ He muses.

"Too bad that there aren't any chosen yet in this dimension, other then Ryo…" He muses thoughtfully, though he rather not, he contemplates sending for the Legendary destined. _'There's always the option of also summoning Naruto as well to help Ryo to complete this task.'_ He muses thoughtfully before nodding to himself as he thinks over that opinion.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**West Shinjuku Park**

"So… what do you want to do?" He asks Henry as they lay on separate benches. "Don't know _Hige_, what do you want to do?" The half Chinese boy asks and he could practically hear the slight smirk that's likely on Henry's face.

"We really need to get you a nickname." He mutters loud enough for his school yard friend to hear. "It's not my fault you resemble your nickname." The vest wearing preteen answers, likely with a satisfied a smile plastered on his face.

He doesn't answer, though he had to wonder how long it'll be before Ryo shows up, after all, they've been waiting for the teen for about thirty minutes, though knowing his cursed luck, either Henry will be dragged off by his parents or sibling or something came up with Cyberdramon that causes Ryo to not show up despite the fact that he made the older teen swear on all that's holy and digital that he'd show up to hang out with Henry and himself.

He had arrived earlier then Henry with Dorumon, Dorumon decided he didn't want to spend the whole day in the apartment, so they hung out around the concrete shed for about an hour. Doing nothing more then shooting the breeze, though when he made to leave once he noticed the time, Dorumon just waved a clawed hand at him in a distracted manner. Dorumon said something about wanting to stick around the shed for a while, it seems that some kind of odd smell was emanating from the back wall so Dorumon wanted to stay and see if anything comes of it.

So, leaving his partner behind, he heads off to wait by the fountain for his two human friends. Henry had arrived a few minutes after he started waiting by the fountain, the other boy showed up an hour and a half early and after talking about their homework, they decided to lie on the benches to wait for their third member. So far, Ryo's got at least five minutes before the King of Digimon is officially late. He holds his left hand before his face, the time on his Digivice soon reads eleven o'clock. Then he heard Ryo call out his nickname. "HIGE! You need to get over here!" Both Henry and him sit up, he turns to look in the direction of the source of the shouting.

A figure seems to be breathing hard by a tree, it takes him about a moment to realise that Ryo's slightly red in the face. "Is that…?" Henry asks as he's already jogging towards Ryo. "What's wrong, DK?" He asks, concern lacing his voice as a sudden image of Dorumon and Cyberdramon getting their asses kick by some powerful Digimon.

"We're needed Naruto, we're needed in the Digital world." The older boy whispers, still slightly out of breath. It takes him a moment to realize just what that meant. "You mean… like in the anime show?" He asks and Ryo nods, he sights before turning to look in Henry's direction.

He bites his bottom lip, trying to decide whether to involve the orange vest wearing preteen in this or not. In the end, it was the beeping of his Digivice, his D-Ark, that causes him to settle on a decision. "Hey Henry? Just wait here for a few minutes; DK needs my help with something!" He shouts towards the worried looking preteen.

Henry's lips press together but the dark skinned boy nods. "I expect an explanation when you get back though!" Henry calls back and he smiles as he nods in agreement. With a wave, Ryo and him turn away from Henry, since Ryo's kind of out of breath, he keeps his pace slow, though he's still faster then Ryo it seems as he's about four or five feet ahead of his friend and fellow Tamer.

Though their D-Arks were beeping crazily, he doesn't try to push Ryo to go faster since it's clear that Ryo's doing his best to keep the pace he's setting. They made it to the concrete shed; the very one he left Dorumon in about two hours ago. He finds Cyberdramon standing just outside of the building; he can hear the subtle growling coming from the tall humanoid dragon Digimon.

"Naruto! Ryo! Come quick! Something's opening up!" His partner Digimon shouts and the two humans enter into the shed with Cyberdramon following after. "Oh boy." He says as Ryo remarks in agreement, "You don't see that everyday."

At the back wall of the shed, the direct opposite from the door, a shimmering portal has opened up and from what he can see, a small swarm of Digi-Gnomes were flying through the air in and around the shimmering gateway to another dimension, one composted from the data flowing through the internet of this world. "What are those?" Ryo wonders and he answers as one of the little Digital beings fly in lazy circles around him. "They're Digi-Gnomes. They're miracle workers of the Digital world. I wonder if they could…"

The one flying circles around him seems to giggle and within seconds, some gear appears in front of them. He grins as he notices that his purple back pack was lying before them. He holds up his left arm and the Digi-Gnome lands on it, a chiming giggle emanating from the shining being. "Thanks for teleporting it here." He says to the gnome on his forearm and the little being chimes a bit as it cocks its head to the side before taking off to join its friends floating around the portal once more.

He bends down and after going through the contains of the bag, he then shoulders it while Ryo seems to sigh in defeat and picks up the grey and red back pack off the ground. While he did find it odd that in his pack he found his MP3 player, his cell phone, and finally, his Digimon DVDs, that includes the movies made after the events of season two, he just shrugs it off, figuring that the Digi-Gnomes knew what they're doing.

"I just find it… disturbing that they could make stuff appear like that." Ryo admits as he shoulder's the pack. "Well, at least you'll be able to change you cloths when you get tired of wearing that out fit." He says in a teasing tone before stepping into the shimmering gateway. He feels a presence behind him as he steps onto solid ground that seems to be silvery blue in colour.

He whistles admiringly at around the room as he steps away from the portal that brought them here. He hears the sound of Ryo's heavy foot falls soon enough. "I wonder what they want now…" He hears Ryo mutter bitterly to himself, causing him to glance in his friend's direction with an eyebrow raised.

"Greetings young ones, I wish to thank you for coming on such short notice." A voice booms and he stops walking to look up. Floating in the air above them was a gigantic serpent like dragon that seems to be pretty ghostly with the exception of the chains hanging around the Digimon's body. A blue mask with yellow markings covers much of the Digimon's head while a long grey bread grows out of the dragon Digimon's chin.

"Azulongmon, why have you called us here? Is **he** active once more?" Ryo demands in a cold and bitter voice. Once more, he turns to look at Ryo, his friend doesn't look too happy to see the floating dragon above them. "Ryo…?" He says unsure what's going on with his usually go-lucky friend.

"No, there has been no sign of _him_ since you encountered him last." The blue dragon states reassuringly. "Then what is this about?" Ryo asks as his much taller friend walks until he's in front of him and Dorumon. "And why bring Naruto in on this?" Ryo adds as an after thought.

He's too confused to really react like he usual would; he just sighs and looks to his partner for some reassurance, which the purple rookie tried to provide. "In a way, Naruto is connected to our currently budding problem. A person from Naruto's past has shown up in the Digital world about two weeks ago." Azulongmon says, causing him to perk up as he tries to think about who he knew that could have followed him here.

Unsurprisingly, nobody in particular comes to mind as the great floating blue dragon continues, "The current problem is a mega Digimon named Daemon, who's currently trapped in a dimension that we, the Sovereign Digimon, helped power the safe guards required to make that dimension his prison." He blinks as that sounds kind of familiar…

"Is he the…?" He asks and the great blue dragon Digimon sighs as he replies, "Yes, Naruto, he is the one responsible for your arrival in our world. When we felt the disturbance that announced your arrival, we doubted that anyone could have survived the trip as the gateway wasn't a stable one. If it had been anyone other then you, they would have been torn to shreds by the energies alone, let alone by the very void itself."

He can't help it; he paled as he imagines his body being torn apart. He can feel his friends' attention on him, he glances at Ryo and the elder teen gives him a concerned look. He sighs as he runs his hand through his newly trimmed hair. The floating Digimon continues, "The new arrival is named Sasuke Uchiha and while he hasn't been here for long, already his actions are being felt throughout the Digital world. For this young human has been doing something we believe was impossible for human beings to do."

His heart sunk on hearing that familiar name, he recalls the emotionally disturbed student who is considered the top student in his age group. A slightly bitter taste enters his mouth as he recalls the smirking face of the Uchiha bastard. "What's he been doing?" He asks in a dark tone, though he wonders if it's in reference to the jutsus.

"He's been absorbing fresh and in-training Digimon's data." The blue dragon Digimon known as Azulongmon says and he's not the only one to give the floating Digimon a look of udder shock. "He's been doing what?" Dorumon, Ryo, and he shouted in unison, not believing what he just heard, after all, they're flesh and blood beings, so how can they hope to be able to use Digimon data, let alone hold onto it within their bodies.

"You hear correctly." Azulongmon says after sighing. "But how? I mean, humans aren't digital beings." Ryo asks and Azulongmon seems to shrug, well, he thinks the gigantic Digimon shrugged. "Technically, when you're in the Digital world a tiny bit of yourself is converted into data. There is a theory that if one stays long enough in a Digital world the more of you're being is converted into data, though it just might be the properties of this world that's causing." Azulongmon tells them, he blinks as he looks down at himself, suddenly wondering if that be the case with him since he's been in the Digital world for months.

"Does this guy have a partner?" Dorumon asks and the great blue dragon answers, "Though he's with a Gazimon, it doesn't appear to be any type of Digivice on Sasuke; therefore it's likely that the Gazimon is there to keep an eye on the boy and to make progress reports to Daemon."

"Oh ok, then, why were only Naruto and I called here?" Ryo asks, once more focused on that question. The gigantic Digimon replies, "There currently isn't any Chosen in the real world just yet, so far, only Naruto and yourself are in possession of any kind of Digivice." His friend and fellow Tamer sighs on hearing that and he corrects the Digimon that could easily swallow them whole, "Don't you mean Tamers? Chosen is the term used for Digidestined, Ryo and me are Tamers since we don't have a D-3 or that white Digivice from season one. After all, ours are D-Arks type Digivices."

"How do you know what they're called?" Ryo asks as his friend gives him a look of surprise. He glances towards Cyberdramon, who's currently growling at the Digi-Gnomes that were flying in wide circles around the grumpy Digimon. "Don't know really, all I can say is that name just kind of pop in my head." He says as he studies the digital miracle workers for a few seconds before looking to Ryo and then up at Azulongmon.

"I see, so that's what they're called…" Azulongmon muses out loud, likely looking at the shimmering beings that were currently taunting Cyberdramon. He has to admit, he would have thought by now that the ultimate Digimon would have attacked the group by now.

"Well, seeing as there aren't anybody else, I guess we'll help get rid of this Sasuke guy." Ryo says, returning to the matter at hand. He nods his head in agreement, knowing that in some ways he's responsible for Sasuke being here.

"Good, I'll arrange for an escort that will guide you out of the lands of the Sovereign Digimon. I trust you'll remember to keep your guards up, after all, Daemon will likely be checking up on Naruto from time to time, so he'll likely forewarn the pair." Azulongmon says with satisfaction lacing his tone.

He can't help but wonder about what Henry's going through at the moment, after all, if he knew his other friend, the vest wearing preteen is likely worrying about what's taking them so long to get back. _'Maybe when we're through, we'll return to the point we entered into the Digital world. I mean, that's what happened in season one, right?'_ He muses as he rests a hand on Dorumon's back, griping a bit of Dorumon's purple coat as he ponders what ifs.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

**That Night**

They made camp, it seems that Ryo had plenty of questions about what's common for this plane of the Digital world, which wasn't odd since he hasn't visited this part of the Digital world at any point, but then, it sounds like Ryo visited a different plane of the Digital world and just wanted to know if there were different rules for each plane.

He turns to look at the palace belonging to Azulongmon; he thought that he would ever get the chance to met somebody who's that high up in the social latter of the Digital world. But then, he never expected to partner up with a human either, so he kept quiet about his musing on that subject. As they sat next around the small area that's cleared of the crystals that litter the landscape of this plane of the Digital world, they each were occupied by different things.

His partner and friend, Naruto, seems to be busy trying to get his MP3 to work while Ryo's going through his pack, likely wanting to see what the Digi-Gnomes packed for him. Cyberdramon seems to be in a staring contest with one of their guides, a Digimon named Apemon. Though he can't get how you can tell who's won since Cyberdramon's helmet is in the way.

Their other guide is a Digimon named Dobermon, a Digimon that's currently scouting around the area to make sure they don't run into any other kind of Digimon, he figures since this is the highest plane in the Digital world that its more then likely that the Devas fall into those Digimon to watch out for. While he's confident that he could take on either Apemon or Dobermon, he doubts he'd be able to stand up to one of the Devas as they were servants to the Sovereign Zhuqiaomon, which pretty much means that they're elite fighters if the phoenix mega would chose them to carry out his will.

"So then, what's this Sasuke guy like? I mean, you do know who he is, right?" Ryo asks after he's done doing an inventory of his pack. His blond partner sighs and puts the device on top of his purple pack. "Yea, I know the bastard." He perks at the venom in the blond's tone. "I take it you didn't get along with him?" Apemon asks and Naruto just sighs.

"Well, how well do you get along with an ice cube? That pretty much sums up a lot about him." The whisker cheeked boy says. "Just because somebody's a cool customer doesn't mean much." Ryo says and Naruto snorts. "How about if I threw in arrogant, self-serving, and he's got fan club?" The blond asks.

"… What's wrong with having a fan club?" He wonders. "It means that he's got a bunch of bratty girls hounding him, more then ready to mob anyone who tries to challenge him, and are always around declaring how great he is, stroking his ego." His Tamer says in a bitter tone.

"You had a few encounters with them?" Ryo asks and Naruto nods. "Yea, I kept trying to get him to fight me but they either mobbed me and beat me up or help get the bastard an excuse not to fight me. It really didn't help matters that everybody in the village up the guy up on some kind of pedestal, claiming he could do no wrong, same as I can do nothing right." The blond preteen answers and an odd look settles on his partner's face, causing him to realize that this was defiantly a sore subject.

"What about his family?" Ryo asks and Naruto shrugs. "They were massacred a few years back, Sasuke's the sole survivor. It was about that time did the whole village begin to pamper the idiot. Nobody wanted to talk about what happened or who did it, but I think the guy wants to avenge his clan by killing the one who did it. Thing is, I think he's mental but nobody wants to see that side of him cause of who his family was and what they've done for the village."

"…" He glances at Ryo as Ryo glances at him. "You act like that's common." He says and Naruto shrugs. "The Kyuubi killed plenty of people back before I was born, I mean, it's the world I use to live in. People died protecting what's important to them, be it money, their family, or their village. After all, my home village is a hidden village, a village where ninjas live, train, kill for and die for." Naruto says in a distracted way, as if not really thinking about their conversation as he stares down at the small fire they have going.

He blinks as he begins to see how Naruto's abilities came about. "So you were training to become a ninja before Daemon transported you here, to this Digital world?" He asks and Naruto blinks for a few seconds before nodding. "Yea, I was. I wanted to be the top ninja back home, I wanted to be Hokage so that the whole village would respect me, acknowledge me. Some dream…" The blond muses.

"Wait a moment, you're saying you come from a world that has actual ninjas? So was this Kyuubi a ninja? And you were learning to be a ninja?" Ryo asks, Naruto snorts at the mention of Kyuubi.

"The Kyuubi was a demon that attacked my village about the day I was born. The Hokage at the time was the Fourth Hokage; he lost his life getting rid of the fox. Up until a few months ago, I thought that the Fourth managed to take the beast to the after life along side of him, turns out, the reason why my whole village considered me a pest was the fact that the Fourth sealed the demon in me. Pretty much everyone that was old enough to remember seemed to decide that I'm not the container of the beast, but the beast reincarnated, so they set out to make my life a living hell and I guess they succeeded since I had a crappy childhood and would have been killed for stealing some scrolls I was tricked into stealing by this guy had been one of my teachers." Naruto says and his heart goes out to his partner.

"I take it that's when Daemon found you, huh?" Apemon asks gently and his Tamer nods. "Yea, I had just finished beating the crap out of the guy and I could hear the search party coming for me. He told me he could give me a chance at a new life, though he did mention that in exchange I had to help him get out of his prison. So once more I was tricked by somebody who just planned on using me for their own ends."

He winces slightly at the tone as well as the sad smile gracing his friend's face; he swore that Naruto's blue eyes also seem to be a darker colour too. "Well, no point in dwelling on it, after all, it's in the past, right?" Naruto says after a few minutes, seemingly shaking himself out of his depressing thoughts, trying to lighten the mood.

A glance at Ryo showed that the older Tamer is just as moved as he was, he's not sure about Cyberdramon though, but then, the ultimate level Digimon's never seemed to be touchy feely sort. It also causes him to briefly wonder if he'll undergo a similar attitude change when he Digivolves to the last two levels. Those thoughts pushed aside as he pipes in, "It seems that you forted Daemon's plans when you landed here without a watcher, huh?"

"Yea, guess so." Naruto agrees and for a while, silence reigns among the mixed group. His partner's one hand scratching behind one of his ears, he notices that Ryo seems to be thinking about something, what, he's not sure, but he muses it might be about sharing a bit of his own miserable history with Naruto and himself.

"So, how come I don't feel hungry?" The brunet Tamer asks as he changes the subject, and he glances over to the seemingly forgotten member of the group who's only one of their two temporary guides. "Nobody really understands it, not even the Sovereigns themselves. As long as you think you're not hungry, you won't be hungry." Apemon answers once he's center of attention.

"Ok, but what about these planes? I mean, how did they come about?" Ryo asks and Apemon replies, "Originally, the Digital world consisted of only one plane of existences. On this original plane, Digi-Gnomes and Digimon co-existed for a time; it was relatively peaceful until _it_ came. When _it_ arrived, it started to delete Digimon and Digi-Gnomes for a few cycles, once the numbers were cut down to a small group of survivors, _it_ retreated, why _it_ did, nobody really knows." Apemon pauses to gather his thoughts before continuing.

"In time our numbers recovered and so did the Digi-Gnomes. But every so often, _it_ makes an appearance, deleting everything _it_ touches, leaving nothing but death in _its_ wake. In time, we coined it the Ancient Enemy or recently, Chaos. After it retreated for the finally time, the Sovereign Digimon finally Digivolved into being and with some help from the Digi-Gnomes, began to creat more hospitable planes for Digimon to live in. After all, the original plane consisted of desserts, which I'm sure Naruto and Dorumon are familiar with." Apemon nods in their direction and he sighs as he nods in agreement.

"Nothing much going for that plane other then hot, rocks, and sand." Naruto agrees with a slight grin. "It's our hope that either the Ancient Enemy stays asleep or only attacks the original plane, but, that's unlikely since there are some theories out there saying its targeting Digimon and Digi-Gnomes, regardless of where they are. Some wonder if all that data it's likely absorbed that the next time it appears, it'll not rest until everything has been destroyed, leaving no survivors at all." Apemon concludes and he can't help but hope that he'll never have to worry about encountering such this thing since it sounds deadly and he's unsure if he'd survive said encounter.

Soon enough, the two young humans decided to pass their time by duelling each other. Cyberdramon seems a bit disinterested in the game, but the ultimate dragon Digimon has moved closer to his partner as if deciding now was the prefect time to take the role of body guard. Apemon doesn't move from his spot, he could tell that the golden furred champion level Digimon is deep in thought. As the two Tamers were about to start their third match, Dobermon appears, causing everybody to stare at the dog like Digimon for a few minutes before everybody returning to their previous activities.

Somewhere along the lines, he felt himself drifting off into slumber. With his tail covering his head, his mind empties of thoughts, allowing for dreams to rule.

- o 0 o -


	8. Chapter 8

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

"…" He couldn't find the right words to describe how unsettling it was to know that your best human friend had gone through a horrible childhood simply because he had the misfortune of being used to seal some kind of fox demon that's said to have nine tails.

As he lies on his back, staring up at what passes as the night sky; he couldn't help but review the hollowing conversation that had taken place a few hours ago. He could only imagine what Naruto had gone through before arriving in this alternate world from living a life of not only being an orphan whose parents were killed by the same demon but having that same demon sealed within your stomach. It likely didn't help that pretty much every adult hand known and despise you for it, but not even knowing about it until somebody hungry with power decides to ruin what's little of a life you got by betraying your trust and once they got what they wanted out of you, they tell you the reason why nobody wanted you around; bring your world crushing down around you as well as smashing what a bit of hope of acceptance you have too.

He hadn't known what to say after listening to Naruto talk about what his life had been like before the Digital world. In some ways, Daemon had done the blond a favour sending him away from that setting. He never really expected to find someone who had it worst then him, sure, there's that saying that there always somebody that had it worst but you never believe it until you meet them.

'_And boy did I meet that 'somebody'.'_ He thinks privately to himself as he turns his head to glance at the blond Tamer sleeping next to his partner Digimon. He smiles slightly at the sight and wonders if he looked that innocent and young when he's asleep.

Truthfully though, he's just glad that Naruto would never have to return to that kind of setting now that he's aware of what had gone on with his blond friend and fellow Tamer. It also helped to explain why Naruto's in such good shape too, it sounded like a lot of people were eating right and keeping in shape. He rather not contemplate that they only did so that they could be in top shape to…

He shakes those thoughts out of his mind as best as he could. He rather focus on something else, like the probability of telling Naruto a bit about his own past. After all, it seems that they're kind of on a tic for tac system when it comes to their histories.

With that comforting thought, his exhaustion finally overrides his thoughts and with a sigh, he fells himself giving into the darkness that was sleep.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**Monday After School**

He couldn't help but be keenly aware of the empty desk where once sat his blond friend. He had hoped that Naruto had just forgotten to call him to say that everything fine and that his phoned died and that's why he couldn't reach the energetic blond. But now, it seems that something really bad has happened to his friend and he felt guilty for not going after DK and Naruto on Saturday.

"You ok?" He blinks and looks to the side to find a pair of reddish hazel eyes giving him a concerned look. "Naruto… He hasn't shown up yet." He replies some what thickly despite his control. The owner of those reddish eyes gazes at the empty desk for a second before nodding in agreement.

"You're pretty good friends with him, guess he hasn't gotten around to talking with you, huh? Or did he…" The other trails off, not wanting to finish that sentence. "He said he'd be back soon, but… I can't help but feel that I should have followed them…" His gaze focuses inwards once more as he replayed that memory of finally seeing DK, Naruto's elusive friend, if only for a few seconds.

"I'm sure where ever he is, he's fine. I mean, he promised to returns and Naruto just kind of come across as somebody who keeps his word." The other boy says and he nods in agreement. "Thanks." He says after a few minutes and the other just smiles brightly as he nods.

"Don't mention it. I mean, I'm sure his uncle knows where he is. Have you tried talking to him?" The brunet asks and Henry feels better now that he's got something to grab onto. "I'll give him a try. Thanks." He says and a smile is his reward before Kazu calls for 'chumly' to it hurry up.

"Later!" The preteen calls out with a wave in his direction. He nods and holds up his own hand in response. Soon enough, 'clumly' was gone, leaving him alone to pack up his things, though he makes sure he's written tonight's homework down correctly before packing his things up.

He stops at the door way, his imagination putting the image of his blond friend sitting at the empty desk. With a sigh, he closes his eyes and turns away from the classroom. He's sure that he's written down Naruto's apartment number somewhere, so all he has to do it find it and he'll get the answers he seeks.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Tamer Digital World**

He studies the sandal tracks in the dirt; it's likely that Sasuke leaped away from the scene. After all, who'd believe a human can jump that high into the air let alone that far away. Although, considering they're dealing with Digimon who've never met a human before, let alone two of them at the same time, so he's not sure where these conceptions of what human's are able to do came from.

He then stands up right, while tracking might not have a subject that he had liked, since they hadn't spent more then on lesson. Although that traitor Mizuki had claimed to be able to read tracks so well that he could tell the differences between a stag and a doe, which he highly doubts, but he had gotten a few ideas for pranks from that sole lesson in tracking...

He shakes his head slightly, dispelling those thoughts since they would only make him depressed. He returns to the task at hand and tries to decide how far until they find the spot where Sasuke landed. While he's tempted to leap off like Sasuke, he decides to walk with the others until they find the next set of tracks.

After all, Dorumon would likely be the one that would be left behind and he didn't want that. "He's heading towards those rocks over there. We might not find any tracks since rocks are a great way of destroying your tracks." He tells the others, parroting what that back stabber Mizuki had told them during that lesson.

"I think I might have picked up his scent." Dorumon muses and he flashes his partner a grin. "I still can't believe he could jump this far from the last point. It's just so… abnormal." Ryo says as the older Tamer looks off in the direction of the rock formation.

"You can believe that I got a fox demon in my gut, but you draw the line at chakra infused jumps?" He asks his fellow Tamer. Ryo sighs as the teen scratches the side of his head, his face slightly flushed with embarrassment. "It's one thing to be **told**, it's another thing to see proof." The grey clothed Tamer states and he nods thoughtfully, getting what Ryo's saying, after all, he was never one for book work. He always preferred hands on lessons.

"Well," he checks his D-Ark to check the time before continuing, "we could always spend the night there, it's getting kind of late." Ryo checks his own Digivice, he could hear Ryo mutter something under his breath as the old Tamer takes the lead once more, Cyberdramon takes to the air, making a beeline for the rocky hill.

He shares a grin with his partner before falling into step behind Ryo. Dorumon brings up the rear of their group, which gives them some protection while the ultimate level dragon man flies off to scout the rocky hill like formation that's a few minutes walk from Sasuke's tracks. Silence hangs between them as they trail after the battle hungry Digimon.

This gives him time to reflect about what's been going on since Saturday morning when they arrived in the Digital world. _'I wonder how Henry's taken to this… extended leave of absence. For that matter, how's Yamaki, Riley, and Tally taking it? I mean, sure I haven't been in their lives for long but I kind of thought we had something going between us. Ok, so I know that at least Riley and Tally miss Dorumon since they did like to visit him on their days off so it goes without saying that they're likely to be missing me too.'_ He thinks, his focus is totally not on where he's going.

It takes him a while but he finally snaps out of his thoughts when he almost bumps into Ryo. He blinks dully for a few minutes before he realises that it's now night. "Well, looks like we might have to camp out in the open." The teenager muses and he shrugs as he says, "Seems so, DK, seems so."

He hears Ryo sigh in exasperation at being called by his nick name. "Whatever _Hige_, whatever." Ryo replies with an empathise of his designated nick name as Ryo slings his pack off his shoulders once the taller Tamer walks up to the rocky face of the hill. Cyberdramon keeps circling the large stone bolder that makes up the bulk of the hill.

As he slings his pack off his shoulders, he asks as he stares up into the sky, "You think he'll come down soon?" Ryo pauses to look up at the sky before shrugging as the older Tamer returns to taking some stuff out of his pack. "I don't think he'll leave, after all, he's pretty keen on fighting you, Hige." Ryo answers as Cyberdramon's Tamer seems to be deciding if he really wants to change out of his current set of cloths or not.

With a shrug, he puts his pack on the ground and begins to look through it to get his cell phone. He glances through the options to see if he got a message. "Oh well." He muses to before putting the phone back into his pack, his eyes drift to the MP3 player but just shakes his head, knowing that it won't work either so there's not any real point to give it a try.

"So, spot anything interesting?" He asks his purple coloured partner. "Nothing really and I doubt that Cyberdramon saw anything either." The rookie Digimon answers from a position on his left. "If he had, he would have tackled it head on." He agrees with Dorumon as he closes his purple pack, it takes him a moment to realize that Ryo headed off to change his cloths.

He looks down at his brown T-shirt and blue jeans. He picks at the chest part and takes an experimental sniff. Not smelling sweat, he shrugs as he lets the fabric go as he grabs his deck pouch and then take out the small collection that's lying in the bottom of his pack. He begins to go through the pouch and then through the cards that the Digi-Gnomes packed for him.

As he begins to switch out a few of his cards from his deck with the small collection that's within his pack, Ryo returns wearing a navy blue turtle neck shirt and is now wearing a pair of dark grey cargo pants. Ryo puts his T-shirt and jeans into his pack, considering he's got two other change of cloths in his pack, he guesses that Ryo's got the same for cloths as well.

"Switching out some card, huh?" Ryo asks once the other Tamer finishes with his pack and comes to bug him. "Yea, might as well. After all, you never know what you're going to encounter in this world." He replies and Ryo nods thoughtfully.

"So, after you're done, do you want to play a round?" The Tamer titled Digimon King asks and he just smirks as he nods slightly, as he answers, "If you feel like getting your ass kicked, sure." Ryo's flashes him a confident grin in reply.

-(V)-

**Mitsuo Yamaki**

**Apartment**

'_The apartment feels so… empty without them around.'_ He muses to himself as he looks out the balcony window. His hands were behind his back, his shades lying on the table next to his laptop.

He snaps out of his musings when the apartment phone rings and he moves to answer it. "Yamaki here." He says into the phone. "Hi, I'm Henry Wong and I'm a friend of Naruto Uzumaki. I'm calling to see if he's in right now." Henry says over the phone, he couldn't help but frown on hearing the boy's last name.

"I'm sorry, but my nephew isn't in right now. An emergency situation has come up and Naruto's currently unavailable at this time." He informs the boy on the other end. He kind of surprised himself when he referred to the young Tamer as his nephew.

After all, there wasn't any real blood relation between them and he hadn't known where those records documenting such came from. He even had some blood work done on the younger blond's blood. The results pretty much confirm his thoughts on the matter which also makes him wonder where the young Tamer really originates from.

"I see. It's just that… I guess DK's with him, right?" Henry asks and he raises an eye brow on hearing Naruto's nick name for Ryo, the partner to Cyberdramon. "Yes, I expect that 'DK' will take good care of 'Hige.'" He says into the phone, his lips twitch in amusement as he recalls the first time he's hear Ryo and Naruto call each by their nick names for each other.

"Well, could you remind him to phone me when he gets back? I've been pretty worried about him since I haven't heard from him since he vanished on Saturday." Henry admits over the line. "I'm sure he had a lot on his mind and when he comes back, I'm sure one of the top things on his list is to call you." He assures the young preteen.

"Thanks, well, I must be going. It was nice talking to you Mr Yamaki. Bye." Henry says and he replies, "It was nice talking to you too, Henry. Bye." The line dies and he hangs the phone up.

He glances to a framed picture that had been taken during Christmas. It had the two Tamers, their Digimon, Riley, Tally, and himself in the lobby of Hypnos. It was the only picture he had of Naruto and himself being in the same picture. His eyes hover on the younger blond's image for a few seconds before flickering his eyes on the purple furred rookie sitting next to the kneeling blond, the Digimon had an arm around his neck.

'_Bring him home, Dorumon, bring him home.'_ He thinks to the image of Dorumon before heading back to the couch to go back to working on his laptop.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

It's been about two hours since they have kind of set up camp at the base of this rocky hill. Like usual, Naruto keeps winning their matches, though he's made a valiant effort at keeping the blond Tamer at bay for longer periods of time. He almost won by default as Naruto was down to one card in his drawing pile, then the blond managed to overcome the stalemate they had for the last three rounds!

"There are times when I wonder if you cheat during our matches." He admits grumpily as he shuffles his card deck, Naruto's already done shuffling his deck. "Did I ever tell you what happened at the Hypnos Christmas party?" The young blond Tamer asks.

"You mentioned a poker game that happened by the end of it." He admits as he recalls what Naruto told him. Naruto hums slightly as the blond smiles as the other likely replays the memory in his head. "Well, you see, Yamaki got a little drunk so Riley took him away to get him some coffee, they never did come back." Naruto muses before continuing his story, "Tally also got a bit drunk and was busy flirting with some guys, so she wasn't keeping an eye on me. Dorumon was busy getting ogled by somebody's girlfriend who couldn't get enough of the silky feel of Dorumon's fur."

"Guess that shampoo paid off, huh Dorumon?" Naruto says in amusement while Dorumon seems to look down in embarrassment. If the rookie was blushing, he couldn't tell cause of the fur covering the purple Digimon's body. He shakes his head as a small smile grows on his face as he finishes shuffling the cards.

"Any way, about three hands into the game, this scientist had to go use the men's room, but they had already started the game. He didn't want to fold, so he began to look around for somebody to fill in. On seeing me watching, the guy asks if I'd mind holding his place at the table. I agreed and as the guy left, told me to just call." Naruto pauses to pick out some cards out of his draw pile.

"So I take a look at the guy's cards, he's got a pair of jacks in his hand. I also do what the guy advised and just called the bets. Time came and I discarded the other three cards." Naruto pauses as it's his turn to lay out some cards. "I get another jack and a pair to threes. On seeing it, I wonder if I should do the guy a favour and raise the bet. I did so, though a few of the other players jeered about it and I got kind of angry so I put it all in. Other then these two guys, everyone folded."

Once more the blond does his turn before continuing with the story. "By then, the guy who I was holding the place for shows up in time to see all of his chips gets put into the pot." Naruto says and chuckles slightly, more likely from the memory of the guy's reaction. "Oh boy was he pissed but it was too late as the others called the bet. The man was trying to rip out his hair as we laid down our hands. One of the players that stayed in showed off two pairs and the other had three of a kind with some queens."

Naruto picks up from his draw pile, the blond frowns at the sight of his cards and then looks at what he laid down. With a shrug, Naruto puts down a modify card to up the Digimon he had on his field's defence. "The guy with three of a kind begins to starting to raking in the pot when I ask, 'Ok, I got three jacks, but do these two threes mean I win?'" He shakes his head as he asks, "I take it that the guy was ready to pull his hair out while the guy you're holding the place for was ready to kiss you?"

"Sounds about right, it was also how I found out that my hand was call a full house. Well, I gave up my spot back to the guy but since they needed another player since one of those other guys were totally out of chips, the scientist have me a small stack of chips so I can play. About eight hands in, I began getting straights, four of a kinds, and more full houses. True, I lost a few minor hands and one big hand but the majority of hand played, I keep racking in the chips until everybody else decided to end the game." Naruto says and he nods slightly before returning to pay attention to his hand.

"So, how much did you end up winning?" He asks after he finishes his turn. "Does it really matter?" The young blond asks and he gives it some thought before shrugging. "Guess not." He admits and Naruto nods before studying the cards in his hand.

They remain silent for the rest of this game, though he could feel pressure on him to tell the blond his complete history, though he wonders where to start and how to approach the subject. "I'm surprised you haven't been bugging me for stories." He finally says and the blond Tamer gives him a grin as Naruto answers, "I'm willing to wait, DK, I'm willing to be patient since I know you'll tell me eventually."

Then Naruto adds as an afterthought with a mischievous grin, "I'm sure you're stewing in guilty and just bursting to tell me all your secrets." He rolls his eyes at how childish the blond Tamer acted for that moment but he knew that Naruto hit the nail on the head with that statement. "Real smooth, blondie, real smooth." He replies with a grin of his own.

Naruto chuckles and he sighs as he shakes his head, though he does feel a heck of a lot better. He's privately glad that Naruto's around, he could only guess what his life would be like without the younger Tamer around to liven things up. After all, even if something tore them apart during this mission, at least his life has been enriched just knowing the blond.

After few matches, they grew tired of playing the card game. They finish shuffling their cards before putting them back into their deck pouches. Dorumon had long since curled up and seems to be napping and Cyberdramon also seems to be taking a nap… standing up right, but then, it's hard to tell since the ultimate level Digimon's helmet blocks their view of Cyberdramon's eyes.

"Well, now what?" Naruto asks him as the blond gets up off the ground and begins to stretch before settling down next to Dorumon. It's not long before Naruto's head is lying on top of Dorumon's back as the purple Digimon sighs slightly and relaxes. He smiles at the scene before him; he wishes he had a camera to capture the moment.

He sighs as he, too, gets off the ground and walks around to get rid of some cramps. He gives Cyberdramon a passing look, trying to determine if his partner was awake or asleep. After walking for a few more seconds, he sits down next to Cyberdramon's right side. "Well then, I guess I've been stewing long enough, I think it's my turn to talk about my history." He muses and he could tell that perks Naruto enough that the blond sits up, causing Dorumon to wake up too.

"Huh? We getting attacked?" Dorumon asks sleepily and Naruto replies, "No, DK's going to spill the beans on his history is all." That wakes the rookie up even more as the purple furred dragon looking Digimon moves from his curled position to a sitting position, his ears perked right up with his eyes shining with a great deal of interest.

Naruto moves into a cross legged sitting position, leaning forward with his hand resting on his lap. Cyberdramon, too, seems to be more… energetic about this as well, more then likely curious of how he plans to tell of the great many events that happen in the course of his life in relation with the Digital world of Azulongmon's true quadrant; although it seems that the great dragon has yet to restore his headquarters in the Digidestine world and Digital world. But that's not important right now.

It takes him a few seconds to shake himself out of his thoughts and to begin his tale, after all, it likely hadn't been easy for Naruto to tell them his, so he owes it to the blond to tell the truth, though he doesn't plan on going into much detail over it, much like Naruto likely had with his tale. "It started when I was eleven years old, the power cut out and I was sent down into the basement to check the fuse box. Before I headed out of my room, something happened." He says, he shifts his gaze from Naruto and Dorumon to down to the ground as he replays within his mind how listened to that mysterious voice coming from his computer.

"A device appears out of my computer and when I touched it, I found myself in a forest and within seconds I met my first Digimon." He says, a slight bittersweet smile erupting on his face as he recalls Agumon and whose Agumon's partner is. "I met a large orange coloured rookie named Agumon, kind of the same one you've likely seen watching Digimon Adventures and Digimon zero two." He says as he looks at Naruto to catch the blond's reaction to the reference.

"I was summoned to take care of a mega level Digimon named Millenniummon who had taken a familiar group of children captive, a group that the Digimon Adventures are based around." He's pleased to see Naruto's blue eyes widen at what he's hinting at, even Dorumon seemed to be stunned as well. "You mean that show actually happened?" Dorumon asks, likely beating his Tamer in asking that question.

"Anyway, it seems that Millenniummon was a being that could manipulate time and brought back those that the Digidestine had defeated for example those were Devimon and Myotismon." He says, not answering Dorumon's question but moving the story along, even if it were parts he rather not go into detail over. "At first I thought I was dreaming, I mean, it sounded like something you expect from a nightmare or a kind of video game. But in the end, I had no choice but to help Agumon free those that were captured. I did make friends with a lot of different Digimon like Leomon and Piximon as I confronted those that were holding the Digidestine hostage."

He pauses as he tries not to think of the threats that were sent his way. "Soon all of them were free but Tai, Agumon's partner." He finally says and Naruto nods slightly while Dorumon cocks his head to the side, giving him an odd look. "Millenniummon was the one holding Tai captive but in the end, we succeeded and Agumon reunited with his partner, Tai. With my job done and over with, I said my farewells with the group and the Digimon I came to call friends, returning to my room, though that wasn't the end of it, oh no, it was just the first adventure that came my way." He says as his thoughts move onto his second encounter with the mega.

"We can stop now, if you want. It's late and you can pick it up tomorrow night." Naruto suggests and he blinks at the blond for a few seconds before realising that sounds like a good idea as he feels exhaustion after a long day of walking. "I guess it couldn't hurt to do it your way." He says with a slight smile on his face and the blond nods in agreement.

Dorumon sighs and once more curls up, though this time, the purple Digimon rests his head on Naruto's chest as the blond rests his arm over the purple Digimon's neck. He couldn't help but reflect at how those two seem to enjoy simple physical contact with one another. It was definitely different then what had gone on among the Digidestine group, though TK and Patamon came close but then, Patamon was kind of on the small side so it wasn't that hard for TK and Patamon to the same as what goes on between Dorumon and Naruto.

'_I wonder if I'll met another pair like them.'_ He muses to himself as he himself getting more comfortable as he lies down on the sandy ground, looking up at the sky. He can't help but be a bit jealous of the pair since even before Monodramon hadn't been forced to DNA Digivolve with Millenniummon, they weren't that comfortable with each other, though he's willing to admit that he had been building a wall between them since he had felt pretty betrayed by the Digidestine and the rookie was the only one around to take it out on.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

He smiles as he strokes Dorumon's neck fur, he'll admit, sometime he expects to wake up and find out that this was all a dream and that he's in some kind of holding cell back in Hidden Leaf or maybe back at his apartment. As he stares at the purple Digimon that's not just his Digimon partner but best nonhuman friend, he felt a surge of pride that this rookie purple furred beast dragon Digimon decide to partner up with him.

In the cartoon show that he never watched before showing up in the Digital world, the characters already had their partners assigned to them, which seemed ok for them, but he rather try and work at a relationship then for it to be automatically handed to him. Not that what happened in the show was terrible, it's just not the right way for him to partner up. Which was why he cherishes his relationship with Dorumon even more since neither of them were selected to be partners from the start, it was by mutual agreement.

"Are you going to get up?" He asks softly to the rookie and his partner replies in a sleepy voice, "Depends, if I say no will you stop stroking my neck?" He grins at Dorumon's reply. "I doubt it." He replies to Dorumon's inquiry. "Then no, I won't get off of you until Ryo's awake." Dorumon says in a sleepily firm voice.

He lets his head fall to the ground as he chuckles lightly on hearing that. "You're a cruel tyrant, you know that?" He says in a teasing tone. "And you're a noisy minion." The rookie Digimon says in a mock grumpy voice as he continued to stroke the fine fur coat that his partner sports.

"So, what are you thinking about?" Dorumon asks after a few minutes of silence. "How lucky I am that you decided to partner up with me." He answers truthfully as his other hand snakes under his head to act like a pillow for his head.

Dorumon hums softly on hearing that. "I had my doubts back then, you know, but in the end, if I could, I would do it all again." The purple Digimon says and he says in agreement, "Me too, though I would have tried for more scrolls on ninjutsu and taijutsu." Dorumon chuckles at that and he pats Dorcumon on the back of the head lightly.

"You know, you two sound like a pair of star crossed lovers." Ryo says in bemusement as the older Tamer sits up right. He moves his head up as best as he could to give the other Tamer a dirty look, even though he couldn't help but privately agree with that reference. "Well then, when we marry we'll remember not to invite you to the wedding." He says and Dorumon finally moves his head off of his chest, allowing him to sit up right.

"Ah, then I'll just have to pass on sending you two a wedding present." Ryo says, playing along. Dorumon and him snort before chuckling as Ryo beams as the older Tamer gets to his feet. As Ryo walks to where their packs were, he gets to his feet as does Dorumon. Ryo tosses him his pack and they soon set out, already Cyberdramon is scouting for more tracks, likely started long before Dorumon and him woke up.

With that, they begin to trail off in the direction Ryo's Digivice is telling them to head towards.

- o 0 o -


	9. Chapter 9

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Tamer Digital World**

He taps his foot with his arms crosses over his chest as he waits for the grey Digimon known commonly as Gazimon. Over the pass few days, the short Digimon had become fretful and skittish but what really got his arousing temper was the fact that the Digimon forbade him from go Digimon hunting and the bunny eared Digimon hadn't told him why he's not aloud either. He privately would love to delete and then absorb the grey monster's data but he highly doubts his 'benefactor' would approve of that and he might find himself returning back to Hidden Leaf before he's got a chance to work on fine tuning his new abilities that he's discovered.

True, they were minor like blowing exploding bubbles but he's managed to alter them enough to add a fire element to them by using a bit of chakra. On learning that it was an ability known to most types of in-training Digimon, it made him eager to begin deleting and absorbing rookie Digimon. He could only imagine the possibilities of adding their traits to his fighting style.

After all, with every Digimon absorbed, even the fresh and in-training types, he felt stronger and more energized. He could only imagine what kind of power he'd receive by continuing up the chain of Digimon levels, it was enough to make him drool, just imagining how badly out class his elder brother would be when they met up again after he's absorbed a few of the highest level Digimon around.

Although, it did get him to thinking, how was it that a Digimon advance to those higher levels? After all, if the ones he's been deleting and absorbing were only babies and really young children then it means, if you follow that course of logic, that the rookies were preteens, champions to be teens or young adults, ultimates were older adults, and megas to be elderly. Although, unlike with humans, the more advance the age, the more powerful and skilled they get until they're at peek performance, which is when they become megas, likely the oldest Digimon around.

Too caught up in his thoughts, he missed Gazimon's arrival, his thoughts trying to puzzle out whether to ask his Digimon guide or to just forget about it since, in the end, it wasn't relevant at this time.

-(V)-

**Gazimon**

He arrived to find the brat brooding about something, though he doubts that it's anything important other then trying to calculate how many more young Digimon he needed to delete and download before taking the chance to confront a rookie. He's under no delusions that when that finally happened, he'd better watch his back or else find a giant fire ball heading in his direction.

Although those kinds of worries were now on hold since it seems that Daemon had decided to reward him by allowing him to finally Digivolve into his champion form, something that's getting harder over the pass year and it seems as if nobody knew why that was either. He grins as he considers the course of action he plans to take now.

After all, to stay safe he needs to keep a few steps ahead of the brat and the only thing the brat respects is raw power, even if the boy despises it when he's out classed by it. He does find it odd that the brat's never seemed to develop homesickness since he's been here, in the Digital world.

With a mental sigh, he makes a throaty sound to snap the brat out of his brooding. The boy's black eyes glare at him, as if it wasn't the brat's fault that he didn't hear him coming. _'Oh boy, if you think I'm bad, brat, wait until you deal directly with the boss himself.'_ He muses privately to himself, keeping a smirk off his furry face.

"So then, do you think you're ready to have another go at me, brat?" He asks with a hint of a smug look on his face. His arms around his waist as his tail tip flickers from side to side.

A flash of cold fury enters and fades out of the brat's eyes before the brat stands up in a way that screams boredom. Though to his eyes, he notices how stiff the brat's shoulders were as well as how stiffly the brat's walk is as the kid walks a few feet towards him. A slightly hungry look enters into the kid's coal eyes for a few seconds before the kid looks away from him.

"Good, now then, I'm feeling generous so feel free to take five free shoots at me before I decide to defend myself." He says as he gives the kid a confident smirk and makes sure that his body language read how unconcerned he was about this upcoming fight. After all, it's true, it won't matter if all five hits touched him, for before there would be a sixth, he would initiate his reward and Digivolve into his champion form, which would also get rid of his injuries that he received during his time as a rookie.

As Sasuke's sandals dig into the sandy ground, the boy's hands ball into fists since Daemon has yet to send replacement weapons for the brat, which forces the brat to use physical attacks, jutsus, and his newly acquired Digimon type attacks which were mostly a stream of bubbles that explode. He can't help but feel smug, after all, the brat was rarely out of his sight and the only time that happens is when the brat has gone hunting for young Digimon to delete and then absorb. So he already had a rough idea of what kind of attack pattern the brat will be using, after all, the brat isn't very creative when it comes to trying new attack routings.

This is likely due to lack of training partners and too much success with the way he normally attacks as well, so he's already moving to the left as the brat blurs and within a few seconds, he twirls to the right. He leaps backwards and as he lands, he couches as a stream of red bubbles coming flying his way. He's already rolling on the ground as they explode loudly, sending bits of fire in all directions.

"My turn!" He sings out and after leaping a few feet away from the brat, he can't help but smirk as excitement races through his being. "Gazimon Digivolve too…" He calls out before being engulfed by a shell of black light. "Fangmon!" He howls out as the shell breaks apart, revealing him in his new body, complete with a total make over.

The scent of the brat's unease and surprise makes him grin even more, showing off more of his new pointed teeth. At the sight of the pale brat going even paler, he feels a deep satisfaction at being the reason for that fear. His ears pick up the sound of a racing heart and it only takes him a second to realise that it's coming from the human right in front of him.

"Blast Coffin!" He growls out in a different voice then his previous evolution. A ball of black energy gathers in his open jaws before launching itself in the brat's general direction, he misses on purpose, after all, as long as the brat remains healthy and under his thumb, it's more then likely that he'll receive the ability to advance to ultimate level.

The blast sends the brat flying through the air and causes him to land on his back. He walks casually towards the boy ninja, the scent of fear causing him to feel very satisfied with himself at the fear he installed in the pale boy known as Sasuke. He stops about a foot away from the boy; it was as if he could _taste_ the boy's very bitterness over being over powered in such a seemingly casual way.

"So then, do you like my new form, human? Cause I'm not going back to being Gazimon anytime soon, if ever, so you better reconsider your 'treatment' of my advice and position or I'll bite a finger or a toe off, understand?" He says in his new voice, using a gruff tone.

Sasuke nods his head rapidity and he nods in approval. "Good, now, go pack. We've spent too much time in this area and it's likely that the Sovereign Digimon already know of your activities, which means that they might already guess who our 'benefactor' is. So, there's likely a strong group on its way to foul our time in this world." He says and he notices the brat rolling his eyes on hearing about their likely enemies. "Considering whose dimension we're staying in, I wouldn't be surprised if those heading our way are a pair of Devas." He adds and on noticing the blank look on the brat's face, he explains, "The Devas are a group of twelve ultimate level Digimon answering to the phoenix Sovereign Zhuqiaomon, a mega level Digimon who **owns** this part of the Digital world. Which means that he's not your average mega Digimon, get it?"

The startled look that turned to fear with a hint of loathing meant that the brat understood that they were in some deep trouble if they were captured and Daemon decided to wash his hands of them. After all, he'd likely get off lightly, being a Digimon hired to do a job, but the boy on the other hand… The phoenix Sovereign hated humans with a fiery passion and it really didn't help that Sasuke not only deleted those considered helpless and highly unable to defend themselves but he also loaded their data, something that only Digimon were allowed to do.

As he watches the pale boy race off to get packing, he feels his tail wag back and forth as he watches the brat. Then with a final swish, he turns away from the brat and heads off to try and confusion their trail so that the pair of Digimon likely on their way here would, hopefully, split up to follow a few false trails out of this area.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

'_This would be so much easier if I Digivolve into my champion form, then we'd make better time since I know Naruto's capable of keeping up with us on the ground.'_ He thinks as he trails behind his partner since Ryo's currently flying over head, riding in his partner's arms. _'Though I doubt it would help any, after all, most of this guy's trail is evident on the ground and I do have the guy's scent, as foul as it is.'_ He adds silently to himself as they moved over the sandy ground, heading in the direction their minor tracking abilities point in.

"Hey, Dorumon?" He perks up as he hears his partner say something to him. "Yea?" He asks once he get into pace with the blond. "What do you think your ultimate form will be like?" The whisker marked preteen asks him out of the blue.

"Huh?" He says in startlement, not expecting that question. "I know, but, well, it's kind of hard not to wonder about it once you run out of original things to think about. I mean, it's hard not to wonder when there's a Digimon that's pretty much a full time ultimate in front of our eyes, huh?" Naruto says, rambling slightly with a slight look of embarrassment on his face.

"I wouldn't be surprise if I Digivolve into another furry dragon, after all, the fur is something that three known forms share, right?" He says on a light note, it worked as the blond smiles broadly and nods in agreement. "Guess so, I get what you're saying, after all, Cyberdramon doesn't have much in the way of fur and likely didn't have much of it in his lower forms. After all, most beast types keep their fur coat and I guess being a Beast Dragon means you'll keep your fur too as you advance through the levels of evolution." The blue eyed whisker Tamer says, flashing him another grin before they continued in silence.

Dorumon could only sigh as he spotted the line that signalled that the day had passed, which means they were now looking for a place to set up camp. They traveled for another thirty minutes before they just stopped at a point and Naruto allows his pack to drop to the ground. Cyberdramon carrying Ryo lands within a few feet of Naruto and himself. He stretches his body in hopes of relaxing his muscles; it's something he learnt from living so long with his friend and partner.

It amuses him to see Ryo also stretching as he walks around the camp; it's likely that Ryo's backside likely grew stiff after sitting in the crock of Cyberdramon's arm all day long. He turns to look at the blond and finds Naruto sitting cross legged as the whiskered marked boy going through his purple pack. The blond pulls out a new shirt, vest, jeans, and other such things.

"Err… I don't suppose everybody could, I don't know, turn away while I change?" Naruto asks with redden cheeks. "Why don't we ask Cyberdramon to block our view?" He muses and turns to look at the quiet dragon Digimon. "Well, Cyberdramon, you want to do it?" Ryo asks his partner.

"If I have to." The larger Digimon says with a slight snarl and within seconds his partner is hidden from their view. It takes a few minutes before Naruto walks from behind the taller Digimon with his old cloths in his arms. "Looking sharp." Ryo calls out and the blond just shakes his head as the younger Tamer heads back to where his pack is.

"So then, did you want to continue on with your story or did you want to have a match?" The blond boy asks once he's done stuffing the cloths into his pack. "I think I'll skip having a match for tonight, Hige." Ryo says and Naruto sighs as he gives his head a shake.

"Well then, I'm sure the rest of your life story will take up most of the night, huh DK?" Naruto says in an overly sweet voice, he sighs as he curls up on the ground, waiting patiently for Ryo to begin his next set of adventures. With a nod, Ryo gets this look of concentration on his face as the teen gathers his thoughts, much like the look the teen had last night. "It was about six month after the end of the Digidestine's adventures with the Digital world. I'm fairly sure you've seen that movie called Our War Games, right?" Ryo asks and his partner nods while he remains silent like last time Ryo told them a bit about his history. "Yea, I remember seeing it." Naruto says.

"Well then, I sure it won't come to any surprise that I watched the whole thing happen on the computer while I was at a friend's house." The older dimensional hopper pauses there for a moment before adding, "I'm sure you figured out who that friend was." Naruto replies softly, "Ken Ichijouji."

Ryo gets a slightly bitter smile on his face as the partner of Cyberdramon nods before continuing. "Anyway, as we turned to do something else on the computer, Veemon appears with a D-3. According to the small blue dragon a Diaboromon escaped into the Digital world and guess who's summoned to defeat it?" Ryo says and pauses for a few seconds before continuing this tale.

"Ken wanted to help and so he followed me into the Digital world. I met up with Tai and Agumon before heading off. Ken stuck around Primary Village to wait for Veemon and mine return, after all, Diaboromon was hiding out in the same place that Devimon used as his base." Ryo says. "You'd think that a rookie wouldn't be able to take out a mega level Digimon like Diaboromon but Veemon did." Ryo adds before growing silent for a few moments.

"Diaboromon was just a lure set to riel me to the Digital world. It seems Millenniummon was still around. The mountain that we were on, Millenniummon blows it up and in doing so split the Digital world in two. Ken on one half and myself on the other. Ken did met up with Wormmon and does go on his own adventures, like clearing dungeons and finding items needed to correct the rift. I really miss him." The older Tamer says the last part softly and he can't help but feel for Ryo.

After all, he does sometimes miss having those Gotsumon show up to visit Naruto and him. For a few seconds, he can't help but feel a bit homesick for that valley that he met Naruto in. He can't help but wonder if anybody moved into that cave that Naruto and him had been living in.

"Along the way to confront Millenniummon, I found pieces of Digi-Eggs and with nothing better to do, I just keep them. In time I did make my way to Millenniummon floating island and then the guy decides to get cryptic on me!" Ryo growls, clearly annoyed even after the event. It takes a few seconds for Ryo to calm down to continue with his tale, "Anyway, it uses out that those pieces of Digi-Eggs could be used to unlock this gate that Millenniummon set before Ken and I. They formed a Digi-Egg of Desire and it seemed that only I could make it react."

"The door opens and Ken, our partners at that time, and myself are engulfed by darkness. We soon find ourselves in Millenniummon's world, a barren waste land with a sphere that is the guy's castle. In time, we do make it there and while Millenniummon is polite to me, he's out right rude to Ken." Ryo says with his eyes flashing in anger, it's clear that Ryo didn't like how Millenniummon acted to his young friend back then.

"It was a challenge but in time, we did manage to defeat Millenniummon. He was laughing as his body broke apart! The Digital world returns to normal, though Millenniummon returns only to explode, sending out Dark Spore throughout the air." Ryo says. "Ken pushes me out of the way and gets hit by a spore coming at me. Millenniummon chuckles as he declares that he can't die as long as my power is eternal and then he vanishes, leaving me with Ken who's beginning to burn up."

Naruto says, "Must have been hard, he saves you only to become one of the bad guys of season two." He nods in agreement with his Tamer on that one. "I wasn't around to witness that nor to try and prevent it." Ryo states as he runs a hand through his hair as the older Tamer stares into the ground, his gaze kind of misty as Ryo likely replays the events in his mind.

Then Ryo closes his eyes and turns his face up to the 'sky'. "We can turn in if you like." Naruto says after a few seconds but Ryo just shakes his head. "No, I think I should continue. I need to get what comes next off my chest and maybe you'll see why I kind of prefer to go at life on my own." Ryo says, turning to look at Naruto and then flickering to look at him before turning to look at Cyberdramon.

"You see, I had been nursing Ken back in the real world and after a few days, Ken points to his computer and mentions that there's something that might interest me on it. So, I go and check, I found a page containing a quiz for potential participants in something called the D-1 Tournament." Ryo tells them. "It perked my interest so I started to fill out the questions. After answering a few questions I can't help but noticed that the test was rigged since it seemed that I knew all the answer to the questions, so I turned to ask Ken about it and he said he didn't know anything about it."

"So I completed the quiz and once I had picked one of the Sovereign Digimon and then that particular Digimon's shadow appeared and abducted me from Ken's room. It wasn't long until I found myself in the Digital world once more and I found myself not far from Piximon who then told me that the Digital world needed my power once more." The older Tamer says and then shakes his head. "I, of course, was sceptical about this since I'm usually only called to the Digital world to deal with Millenniummon, so I asked why and the pink Digimon told me about how the Harmonious Ones, just another title for the Sovereign Digimon, had called for a tournament to be held and that the other children were called to participate as well. I was then directed to the arena so I did."

Ryo sighs before continuing, "I was kind of surprised how many kids showed up. Most of them called themselves Tamers and after talking with some of them, I headed to Gennai's to find a monitor with Ken on it." A slight smile grows on Ryo's face and he can only guess how close Ken and Ryo were before Ryo was forced to leave his home world. A slight glance over to Naruto shows that the blond, too, understood that as well.

"Must be hard not being able to get messages from him." Naruto says. "Yea, but, who knows, maybe one day…" Ryo says with a bit of wistfulness in his tone and his partner nods in agreement. "If I ever met him, I'll tell him you miss him." Naruto promises and then the older Tamer chuckles slightly before a playful grin appears on his face as Ryo says playfully, "If you ever do, I'll wear a shirt that declares you to be my master for a month without wearing anything over top of it."

"Deal!" Naruto exclaims and they shake on it, sealing the deal. "Why do I get the feeling that you just condemned yourself?" Cyberdramon says in his gruff voice causing all three of them to turn to look at the ultimate level dragon like Digimon. It was kind of easy to forget that the Digimon was around since he rarely speaks, mostly allowing Ryo to do the talking for both of them.

"Maybe because Naruto's like some kind of demi-god or a demon when it comes to lucky chances and gambling?" He decides to add his two cents in a light hearted tone. The two humans exchange looks before the blond of the two shakes his head. "Can't take it back, we sealed it with a handshake." Naruto says on seeing the look on Ryo's face. "Ah come on, do a pal a favour!" Ryo whines with a slight smile on his face, making it hard to believe that Ryo really wants to take back the bet.

Naruto crosses his arms with a stubborn look on his face. A look he knew too well. "He's not going to budge, Ryo. It's just better to find a tasteful shirt, take it into a tailor, and be prepared to wear it when the time comes." He says and his best friend nods in agreement. "Or I can just find a Digi-Gnome and have those little guys create one for me." Ryo muses thoughtfully.

It's not long before silence hangs over them once more as they enjoy the lightening of the mood. "Anyway, let's get back to my story." Ryo says and it takes a few minutes before Ryo's ready to continue with his story.

"Anyway, Gennai hands me a D-Terminal so that I can communicate with Ken where ever I am while in the Digital world. I then head back to the arena as we're addressed by one of the Sovereign Digimon about the goal of the tournament and how you pass through the five grades. Agumon, Wormmon, and Veemon offer me aid and so, I headed out to train in the dungeon that I had access to." Ryo says with a sigh. "It was a pattern really; everybody was expected to go train in a dungeon before being able to challenge the lowest grade that you haven't fought in. The head of the fifth grade was Izzy, the fourth grade was headed by Willis, the third grade was headed by Mimi, the second grade by Matt, and the first grade by Tai."

Ryo's lips press together for a few seconds before the older Tamer continues, "It seemed that the whole tournament was a hoax set up to train me. That it was predetermined that I would win it. It was all to prepare me for Moon-Millenniummon." "It must have really hurt to have heard that." Naruto says and Ryo's eyes close as he nods.

"You closed yourself off, didn't you?" He asks after a few seconds. "They did apologies but… They betrayed my trust by lying to me, not even asking if I was willing to fight the new and improved Millenniummon." Ryo says with a hint of bitterness. "I did march off to attack his new base. Moon-Millenniummon welcomed me, even went as far as to tell me how he and I were Yin and Yang, there fore neither of us could die while the other lives. He then invites me to fly with him through worlds of time, causing the island to explode."

"I guess the Digidestine all think I'm dead because of that." Ryo says and neither Naruto nor him knew what to say after that. In time, Ryo lies on his back and Naruto moves to be closer to him. After a few minutes, he allows himself to relax and curls tighter into a ball as Naruto rests his head on his bushy purple tail.

Sleep slowly descended upon the group at its own pace.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

"Looks like somebody decided to teach someone a lesson." He can't help but say after they arrive at the site viva Cyberdramon airlines with Dorugamon trailing behind them while he is riding on Cyberdramon's other arm crock.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Ryo says dryly while he rolls his eyes. The ultimate level Digimon drops down, allowing him to leap off. He studies the sand and then the tracks of the Digimon. "I think whatever Digimon is with Sasuke must have Digivolved, see how these small track leap back and then suddenly, there's those ones, definitely four legged in nature. The blasted was a warning shoot, likely to intimidate the guy into submission. It worked, Sasuke scrambles away and then the Digimon bounces off in that direction."

He points off in the direction of the tracks. "How long ago was this?" Ryo asks. "I'd say a day or two. See, the sands haven't done covering up the tracks yet, so they're recent, though I'd say if we were a day later most of these would have been covered up by wind or something flying over head." He replies as he glances over to where his partner Digimon is hovering, causing the wind to stir up and begin covering tracks.

"Oops?" Dorugamon says in embarrassment and he chuckles slightly. "Anyway, we should head off in that direction since I'm sure that we'll find out if he's still in the area or not." He points in the direction Sasuke raced off in. "Shouldn't one of us follow the Digimon that he was attacking?" His partner wonders and he shrugs. "If the Digimon is important then we'll likely find his tracks with Sasuke's." Ryo muses and he nods in agreement.

It's not long before he's once more in the other crock of Cyberdramon's arm before they fly off in the direction of where Sasuke had fled after his confirmation with the newly Digivolved champion Digimon.

-(V)-

**Daemon**

**Dark Ocean**

He can't help but growl as his ability to observe the happenings beyond his prisons seems to be limited now. It's likely that the brat's hunting of young Digimon have alerted the Sovereign Digimon that he's not as handicapped as they had hoped. It seems like it was a good idea to leave his mark on the human and on the Digimon he has appointed to be the brat's guide.

Now he's trying to gather enough energy to send the pair from that Digital world to another one, one that from his observations a fellow Demon Lord had been seen in, Lucemon, the Lord of Pride. It also might give the brat a new goal to propose since according to rumours that he's gathered through observation of that world, there were ten spirits that could allow a human to transform into a Digimon, which should keep the Uchiha brat in the shadows until he's found one of those spirits and claim it.

He also learnt that those three angel Digimon who were set to watch over the Digital world have yet to achieve mega level yet, they're currently champion level which should allow Fangmon to survive more then one encounter with one or two of those angel Digimon.

'_Too bad I can't check up on the demon vessel, but then, my viewing window doesn't allow me to see what occurs in any of the human worlds connected to Digital world. That one's been out of my sight too long and I highly doubt I'll know how to manipulate him. If any of the Sovereign Digimon ever encounter him, it's likely that they'll inform the blond of my crimes. After all, the brat does have strong moral fibre or else he would have long since resorted to bloodier means to get the respect of his home village.'_ He muses about the blond demon vessel he let loose in the known realms of the Digital world.

-(V)-

**Sandaime Hokage**

Hidden Leaf He sighs as he begins to rub his temples to ward off a headache. He wonders if he couldn't just take a vacation until the village calms down about the disappearance of their 'beloved' Sasuke Uchiha. He can't help but be sour about how much of an uproar has been cause by the young Uchiha's disappearance but then, he was the last Uchiha that's living within the wall of Hidden Leaf.

"Lord Hokage sir? I have another stack of complains about the Uchiha situation." A chuunin says as his guard opens the door to allow the man in. "What is it this time? Demands that we release him from our secret ANBU lab?" He asks and the chuunin tries to shrug as the man walks up to his desk to deposit the stack of papers.

"Sir? What do you really think happened to Sasuke?" The chuunin asks him as bold as daylight. "I think what happened to Naruto Uzumaki has happened with Sasuke Uchiha and anything we do is meaningless until one or the other decides to arrive back in Hidden Leaf." He says as he cleans out the pipe before putting some of his tobacco into the head.

"Then you think the… err, vessel is helping their captors to brainwash the Uchiha?" The chuunin asks. _'It doesn't matter what I say, they'll make up whatever they want to believe.'_ He muses sadly, not answering the man and within seconds, the chuunin leaves his office leaving him alone with his paper work.

- o 0 o -


	10. Chapter 10

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Tamer Digital World**

"Look there! I know that pale boy anywhere!" He cries from his position on Cyberdramon's arm. "How can he not be tanned?" Ryo wonders as Cyberdramon begins to speed at the pale white figure wearing a blue shirt. "You know, I don't think that ever came up." He muses after a few seconds as his partner, Dorugamon, shots pass Cyberdramon.

The pale figure of Sasuke tries to leap from Dorugamon's flight path but his partner adjusts and before Sasuke could do much, Dorugamon has already snatched the other human out of the sky and pins the Uchiha under him while Ryo and him wait for Cyberdramon to land. His eyes narrow as Sasuke shoots some bubbles out of his mouth, he frowns as they explode but they did little in the way of damaging his partner.

"That wasn't a jutsu…" He mutters out loud. "Oh?" Ryo asks and he nods. "Yea, I'll admit that I've never read much water style jutsus but I'm fairly sure there isn't a jutsu that creates exploding bubbles." He says and then Cyberdramon says, "He's been absorbing Digimon data."

"Why the hell would he do that?" He snaps as he turns to look at the ultimate level Digimon helmet head. "You're asking us? You're the one who knows him." The older Tamer states and with a sigh, he returns to watching Sasuke try and struggle out of Durogamon's grip.

Once Cyberdramon is about eight feet from the ground, he leaps from Cyberdramon's arm and once his on the ground, he stalks over to where his purple friend is pinning the kid from his home dimension. "Good job, buddy!" He says with a smile as Dorugamon turns to look at him.

"It was nothing." His partner says though the champion Digimon seems to puff out his chest a bit at the praise. "Order him to let me go! Dead-last!" Sasuke growls out.

"And who the hell are you to give me order, bastard?" He snaps as he turns to glare down at Sasuke. The other's eyes flash as the Uchiha sends a glare in his direction. "Naruto…" Sasuke draws out his name in an angry tone.

"Gee, I can just feel the love." Ryo muses and he gives Ryo a hard look. "DK…" He states in a blank tone and Ryo counters by saying, "Hige…"

"Get this monster off of me!" Sasuke snarls and he once more turns to stare down at the preteen that's being held on the ground by his Digimon partner. "What do you think, DK? Should we let him up?" He asks Ryo.

"Don't know, you're the ninja, Hige." Ryo says after a few seconds of thought. "What about you, Dorugamon? You think we should let him up? After all, you're the one holding him." He asks his partner and first best friend.

"I think you should bind his hands before we let him up. Even though Cyberdramon is an Ultimate level Digimon, we don't want to take any chances that he can escape from us." The purple furred beast dragon says and then in a softer tone. "He reeks of fresh and in-training Digimon."

He feels Ryo stiffen next to him. He turns his head slightly to get a better look at his friend's face. Ryo's eyes had narrowed and an unreadable expression covers his friend's face. "By fresh and in-training do you mean… Digimon versions of babies, right?" He asks his partner as he suddenly focuses on looking into his partner's eyes, almost begging the champion to say no.

"That sounds about right." Ryo says after Dorugamon didn't answer after a few minutes. His midsection suddenly felt like lead and for a few seconds, he felt numb.

Then he grinds his teeth in frustration and stalks to where Sasuke is and before he knew what he planned to do, with a singled chakra infused punched, he knocks the Uchiha out. Although he wants to keep punching that kid's pale white face, he reframes from doing so, although his whole body trembles with suppressed rage as he glares down at the piece of work that his home village had praised to high heaven.

"You alright?" Ryo asks as the older Tamer places a hand on his left shoulder. "No, but then, beating this bastard up won't bring those Digimon back. Besides, I'm sure he has some wire that I can use to tie his hands together behind his back." He says, Dorugamon hums in agreement while Ryo sighs.

It wasn't long before he finds more then just the metal wire. "'Seals for Beginners,' 'A Ninja's Guide To Summons,' 'Jutsus To Make Your Travels Easy.' These look ancient!" He says as he glances at some of the titles of the books that Sasuke has within his pack. "What are Seals?" Ryo asks as he picks up the book and opens it while he grabs the wire before moving to tie Sasuke's hands behind his back, he even looped some wire about Sasuke's midsection to keep the kid from pulling the arms over his head in an attempt to straggle Ryo or himself.

"Interesting… You can do all that by simply using a brush, some ink, and a small infusion of chakra. Too bad I don't have a clue how to summon my chakra if I had any." Ryo says and he blinks as he finishes cutting off the extra bit of wire.

"What kind of things does it say Seals can do?" He asks his friend and Ryo just grins before closing the book. "Here, take a look." Ryo says as he tosses the book at him. He catches it and randomly opens it up to a page.

He raises an eyebrow at the symbol and then reads a bit of the text that describes what that symbol represents and where it usual is placed in a Seal diagram. He hums and then goes to the very front of the book to read the table of contents. Using the extra wire as a bookmark, he closes the book before browsing through some of the other books that Sasuke had.

"Looks like he didn't care much for the books he had in his possession if you go by the notes he wrote on these scrolls." Ryo says as his friend moves to open another scroll. "Really? The books seem pretty interesting, I might not remember much from my time at the ninja academe but I'm sure that our teachers never hinted at jutsus to make camping easier or that Seals could do half of the things that book describes. Heck, I didn't even know you could summon animals to fight by your side!" He says as he scowls slightly.

"Really? I thought the whole point of school is to educate you so that you have a lot of opinions about what you want to do with your life. I would have figured that ninja school would have covered all forms of chakra use." Ryo muses and he sighs as he nods. "Yea, you'd think… I wonder why they don't, well, unless it's because they wanted to… but they would be doing the same with…" He trails off as a thought blooms within his mind.

"…" Ryo stares at him while he frowns as he ponders that thought for a few minutes until Dorugamon asks, "What would they be doing the same with?"

With a sigh, he answers, "I wonder if they didn't try and sabotage my education. If they did, then they must have done it to the rest of the class as well since they never know when I won't skip that day of class." Ryo blinks as does the purple furry Digimon.

"Well, how about the practical reason not to teach such things? I mean, Hidden Leaf couldn't have been the only ninja village about." Dorugamon muses and he blinks. "Well, I do remember this parade once when I was younger, the ninja were from Hidden Cloud. Huh, maybe your right, maybe there were things they just don't teach at school. Maybe they get taught such things when they graduate to Genin." He admits thoughtfully.

"Anyway, I guess we better start heading out." Ryo says as the teen hands over the scrolls that he had been looking through. He blinks before he grins a lazy grin as he packs the scrolls in with the pack they found with Sasuke. He puts all of the others books in that pack with the exception of the beginner's guide for Seals, that one he puts in his own purple pack to read later that night.

Once he shoulders his own pack, he grabs Sasuke's dull brown one and he hands it to Cyberdramon, who's currently standing over Sasuke. "Get up." He says in a flat tone as he stands over the bastard with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring down at the baby-killer, in his point of view at any rate.

"Dorugamon." He says after a few seconds and his partner opens his mouth to fire off an attack. "Power Metal!" The attack lands to Sasuke's right side, causing the other preteen to move to his left side.

"Idiot!" Sasuke snaps as the Uchiha moves onto his knees before getting to his feet. "Gee, aren't you creative in name calling." He says in a flat tone as Sasuke glares spitefully at him. Cyberdramon moves and nudges the dark haired boy.

As Dorugamon and Cyberdramon force Sasuke to march up front, he hangs back with Ryo and asks, "Are we heading back to Azulongmon's place?" Ryo doesn't say anything for a few second before his friend answers, "I guess we can try heading to the real world, though, we'd just have to land in another dimension before heading there."

"Sounds good, I rather do that then to give him time to get free to continuing his killing spree." He admits and Ryo sighs as he nods in agreement. "I'll see if we can do so by tomorrow morning." Ryo adds and he smiles slightly in reply.

-(V)-

**Fangmon**

'_So, they managed to capture the brat. They were closer then what I was led to believe. Although I'm kind of surprised to see that instead of the Devas, the Sovereigns sent two humans and their pet Digimon. At least one of their partners is an Ultimate, which at least gives me the excuse of not charging down there to free the brat.'_ He muses to himself as finally spots the group that have the brat he's in charge of.

The group has stopped for the night and while the two Digimon, a large purple Digimon that smells like a fellow champion, although there's an underling scent with that one, and then the ultimate level Digimon that he IDs as a Cyberdramon. He shivers slightly at the thought of challenging the virus hunter, after all, he rather not test his luck against that dragon type. He really doesn't know what to do, so he decides to stay out of sight and wait for an opportunity to free the brat.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

After making sure that the broody kid hadn't managed to get his hands out of the metal wire that Naruto used to tie his hands in, he rummages through that bag once more, pulling out the book about camping while Naruto is busy reading that book about Seals while leaning on Dorugamon's side. He could still feel Sasuke's eyes glaring at him as he opens the book to the beginning of the book.

"I don't see why you're bothering to read that book. It's not like you'd be able to pull off any of those jutsus." Sasuke states and he answers without glancing at the kid, "True, but I'm fairly bored and I'm sure I can get some tips on how to camp without relying on any of these jutsus. After all, people have been going camping long before ninja began using chakra."

"Then you're a fool." Sasuke states and he shrugs. "You can think whatever you want; it doesn't stop me from reading this book." He counters before he goes on to ignoring the kid.

'_To be truthful, I really don't know what to think of any of this. After all, what do you do to a kid who's not right in the head? That village really turns out some odd pieces of work. I get the feeling Naruto turned out as well as he did because of his genetics and drive then how he was raised.'_ He muses to himself as he tries to dismiss those kinds of thoughts.

As he begins to read the book, he could feel Sasuke's eyes on him, something that did kind of aggravate him but he felt he could ignore it, after all, he's got faith that Cyberdramon could be very intimidating when the need arose, though he had noticed that the kid didn't pay his partner much mind. Something that's very ill-advised considering what his partner is capable of but then, Dorugamon didn't haste to display power which could lead the brat to believe that the purple furred champion Digimon is more of a threat then Cyberdramon.

After finishing the first chapter he stretches his back and turns to find Sasuke sending glares at Naruto as the blond with whisker marks seems to be doing drawing something in the sandy ground while explaining something to Dorugamon in a soft voice. The purple Digimon would say something occasionally and the blond would get a thoughtful look on his face before answering or looking it up in the book.

"Jealous?" He muses after he gets to his feet and walk about to shake the stiffness out of his legs. The brooding pale boy switches from glaring at Naruto to giving him a very well worn death glare. "What do I care what happens to that dead-last. He's just a waste of space." Sasuke states calmly.

"And yet you don't seem to be trying too hard not to glare at him. Though I think the problem is more simple then that." He muses as his gaze flickers from the pale boy to the tanned one busy talking animatedly with his Digimon partner. "You miss having him try to get you to acknowledge him." He says simply and Sasuke glances angrily away from him.

After a few minutes, he sighs and returns to reading the book that had been founded in Sasuke's pack. After all, Sasuke's pretty much proved himself to be a very poor conversationalist and ninja since the kid wasn't even trying to get any information out of him in regards to anything really.

-(V)-

**Fangmon**

**Morning**

"I still don't get what's so great about this brat. After all, he didn't even try and get free at all during the night, especially considering they were just reading a book each." He grumbles, he had stayed awake for most of the night only taking brief naps.

"I always figured the brat's all talk and no action when it comes down to having to prove himself." He adds softly to himself as he takes note of what's going on with the two humans. The taller one with the darker hair seems to be toying with something.

After a few seconds, he finally gave in to his need to get closer, though he hopes that neither of the two Digimon with the boys would sense his approach. _'Hopefully the pair won't be too observant about what's going on around them.'_ He muses as he begins to creep forward towards the group in hopes of finding a way to free the brat from them.

As something shots out from some kind of device that the elder human had been toying with, he pauses as he watches as the air a few feet away from the group suddenly change. "Are you sure that gate is safe?" He hears the blond boy ask the taller kid.

"Sure I'm sure; I've used it to get here after all." The brunet tells the blond, although as he gets closer, he had to agree with the blond on this one, that gate doesn't look too safe. "Ok fine, I'll trust you, although I'm kicking the bastard through first." The blond replies and he snickers silently to himself at the title the blond has given to the brat under his care.

"Fine by me." The older boy says and the blond pushes the brat towards the gate. As the blond shoves the brat towards the gate once more, he sighs as he picks up speed, after all, he can't let the brat go through that gate since it likely leads some place that wasn't where Daemon wanted the brat to go.

'_Here I go.'_ He thinks as he lets loose a howl, startling most of the humans of the group while the ultimate level Digimon is already moving to attack him. _'This is going to hurt.'_ Were his thoughts on the matter as he begins to zig zag towards the group.

-(V)-

**Daemon**

**Dark Ocean**

'_Well, well, well. So that one is still alive, huh? And I thought he was died when Moon-Millenniummon's keep was destroyed. Oh well, at least I don't have to use my own energy to create a gate, I'll just take over this one.'_ He muses as he observes events through an energy tear hovering before him.

Although his face is covered by cloth, he has a minor smirk on his face as he begins the process of hi-jacking the gate that the Legendary Digidestine Ryo Akiyama had created to lead to another Digital world.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Tamer Digital World**

Something captures his attention and he frowns as he turns from watching Cyberdramon toy with the strange fox like Digimon that's charging towards them. He freezes for a few seconds as he watches as the usually white energy gate begins to display new and sinister colours. He also made sure to grab the back of Sasuke's shirt as the other boy tries to sneak off while Ryo, his Digimon partner, and himself were busy watching Cyberdramon prolong the battle between himself and the champion Digimon, Fangmon.

"Ah, Ryo? Is the gate suppose to be glowing a sick green colour while purple and red lights dance between the thin black energy that's circling about the edge?" He asks as he focuses some chakra into the muscles of the arm that's gripping Sasuke's shirt with a bit of chakra going to the soles of his runners to anchor him to the ground so that no matter what kind of force Sasuke manages to summon up, it wouldn't dislodge him from his spot before the gate.

"What are you talking about?" The elder Tamer asks and his friend turns from the fight to look at the gate. "Kami… What's going on with the gate?! It's not supposed to be displaying those kinds of colours!" Ryo shouts and he nods as he manages to pick Sasuke up by the back of his shirt and put the black haired, moody bastard between him and the gate.

"Good to know." He muses as he watches as from within the depths of the gate, something the colour of dull orange seems to be coming towards them, slowly taking the form of tentacles as the orange energy gets closer to the opening. He then uses his other hand to keep Sasuke from trying to back away from the gate.

'_I wonder if I feed Sasuke to the gate it'll be satisfied with having him as an offering?'_ He muses ideally as the bastard begins to struggle harder to get out of his iron clad hold. _'Knowing my luck, it won't.'_ He decides after a few seconds of thought.

"Maybe you two should back away from the gate." The purple coloured champion muses and Ryo backs away while he just frowns as Sasuke tries to do just that. "I don't suppose if we just throw the bastard in that it'll cause the gate to close?" He asks before taking a few steps back as the three dull orange tentacles begin to exit out of the gate.

"Somehow, I doubt closing it will be that simple, Hige." Ryo says and he replies, "I say it's a valid opinion all the same, DK." Sasuke tries to bolt, throwing all his weight to the left as the bastard snarls out, "I'm standing right here you bastards!"

Sasuke's attempt at escaping from his grasp doesn't work and he just hauls the emo boy back to a position between him and the corrupted gate. "I highly doubt your opinion at this moment matters, Teme." He says as another two tentacles emerge out of the gate. He hears Dorugamon hum in agreement as he takes another step back, dragging the Uchiha backwards with him.

"I think it's growing larger." His partner says as the five tentacles seem to retreat back into the gate, dispersing into puffs of dull orange energy, causing the red flicking lights to darken. The thin circle of black energy seems to brighten and then thicken before pushing against the air surrounding the gate. The sick green glow that hangs about the bottom of the gate suddenly increases and before any of them could react to the change, the mist becomes one solid tentacle that slices through the air to wrap about Sasuke's waist.

Sasuke screams like a little girl before the tentacle tries to yank the bastard towards the gate. The only reason Sasuke hadn't moved any closer to the gate is because of him anchoring himself to the ground viva using chakra to do so. Although Sasuke's no longer has his feet on the ground as the tentacle's grip has slide about the bastard's ankles.

He moves his arms under Sasuke's arms and then puts the kid in a kind of head lock, remembering to focus his chakra into his arms and into the soles of his feet while Ryo and Dorugamon move to try and force the green tentacle to let go. "I don't know how you're doing that, but just keep doing it, Hige!" Ryo shouts as Dorugamon tries to rip out a part of the tentacle while Ryo moves from pulling Dorugamon to moving to his pouch that's about his hip, taking out one of his kunai to stab the tentacle.

"You know, I might just look into getting me my own set of these." Ryo says as he moves next to his partner. "That's great, I'll even teach you how to throw them, but for now, could you, I don't know, call Cyberdramon over to help? Sand isn't the greatest thing to try and anchor to." He replies as he struggles to keep his hold on Sasuke while the bastard yells out a steady stream of insults.

He can't help but note just how many time Sasuke used the same insult repeatedly. _'Guess his vocabulary for insults isn't as large as mine.'_ He muses thoughtfully as he pours more energy into the ground.

"Cyberdramon! We could really use your help here!" Ryo shouts as Ryo once more using both of his hands to stab the green tentacle. He didn't really hear anything from the dragonman Digimon since Sasuke chose that time to scream as those orange tentacles erupt from the gate once more, causing his ears to ring.

"Damn it, Teme! Shut up! You're not helping at all with all that screaming and cursing, Uchiha!" He growls as he tries to shake the ringing in his ears out, he can't using a finger since that would mean loosing his grip on the bastard.

"Ok, that's it, back away and I'll blasting it with one of my attacks." The purple champion states in his deep toned voice. Ryo moves back out of the way as Dorugamon take a step backward. His partner's mouth opens and within seconds balls made out of metal launch out of his partner's mouth, flying through the air to explode on touching the green tentacle.

Other then causing the gate to screech like a banshee, the attack didn't really do much damage to the green tentacle. The gate finishes screeching in pain and then two of the orange tentacles snap through the air to grab his legs while the other three manage to ensnare Dorugamon, one of the tentacles around his neck, upper body, and one of his legs. Dorugamon cries out in surprise as he feels a tug from the tentacles about his legs, he's not even sure how it was that he managed to remain upright when he received a sharp tug from the two tentacles about his legs.

'_Huh? Why are they glowing?'_ He wonders as he observes the tentacles about his legs as best as he can. Then suddenly, his legs began to feel weak. "That's not good…" He mutters softly and Sasuke asks in a sarcastic tone, "What's not good? Is it the fact that we're about to be eaten by this thing or how the colours of it clash?"

"I'd say the fact that's it's sapping my chakra." He states and the bastard turns to look at him in the face as best as he can. "… We're about to get eaten, aren't we?" The guy asks and he hums in agreement, after all, he doesn't know if it would be a good thing to create shadow clones at this moment.

"Ah, DK? If you get back to the real world, could you, I don't know, tell Yamaki that he's the best fake uncle I ever had? Also, tell Henry I hope he doesn't let his baby sister walk all over him." He says as calmly as he cancels the chakra going to his feet. After all, he'll likely need it where he's going.

"Good to know that you can be dramatic, Hige." Ryo states as Cyberdramon finally shows up. "Har har, DK, har har." He replies and before Ryo could answer or for Cyberdramon to do something, all of the tentacles yanked at once, causing him to be yanked off of his feet and heading directly into the wide mouth of the dimensional gate with Dorugamon being dragged from behind.

'_I just hope that Dorumon and I can find our way back here.'_ He muses before he blacks out as a part of him touches the red and purple energy that's dancing about the middle of the gate, between the thin line of black energy that's about the edge of the gate.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

'_Naruto…'_ He thinks as he stares at the spot where the gate had once stood. He can't help but feel a touch numb at what just happened. His friend, only friend at the moment really, had just vanished from this world, leaving him alone with Cyberdramon.

He blinks and finally turns to regard the kunai in his hand, a reminder of the blond who had been by his side just minutes ago. Cyberdramon hums and he sighs as he turns to face his partner. "So, what do you think? Will they be alright?" He asks his partner.

"Naruto and Dorumon are survivors. If there is a way back to this world, they will find it. I doubt we'll be seeing that other one, though." Cyberdramon states in his bestial sounding voice.

He smiles slightly and nods as he once more studies the kunai resting in his hand. "So then, what are we going to do until they return?" He muses as he picks up the back that had belonged to Sasuke. He puts the kunai into one of the pockets before tossing the heavy pack to Cyberdramon.

He turns his back on the site of where Naruto and Dorumon had vanished, looking towards the battle ground that Cyberdramon and that Fangmon had fought. In the end, he just picked a random direction and started off in that direction. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, so he might as well explore this world in the meantime.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**Month Later**

He stares up at the ceiling, he had a pretty emotional afternoon and he can feel Terriermon next to him. He holds up his left hand, studying a familiar device, one he recalls Naruto owing, only his is white with green trim while Naruto's was red with steel gray trim with strange symbols on the rim about the screen.

'_I guess Naruto must have had a Digimon of his own as well. I wonder what kind of Digimon he ended up paired with? An Agumon? Or maybe a Gabumon? Also… should I contact Yamaki about this? Surely if Naruto had a partner Digimon, he'd have kept it at the apartment, which might mean that Yamaki would have discovered the Digimon?'_ He muses as he gazes at the screen with a slight frown.

In the end, he allowed his arm to drop down to the bed and he resumes staring up at the ceiling. Somehow, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

- o 0 o -


	11. Chapter 11

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Frontier Digital World**

He groans as he comes to, it didn't take him long to realize that something different is happening. As he opens his eyes lazily, he finds himself staring up into a canopy consisting of leaves that seems to filter sunlight through. In the end, it's the something using his chest as a jumping platform that causing him to lift his head and to give the little white Digimon jumping up and down on his chest a dry look.

"I would like to sit up, kid. So could you, I don't know, move off of my chest so I can do that?" He asks the Digimon. "Oh!" The little white Digimon says and scampers off of his chest using his little feet. With a sigh, he sits up and begins to stretch his shoulders while glancing about for signs of his partner, Dorumon.

"I'm Tokomon!" The little Digimon proclaims proudly and he turns to regard the In-Training Digimon. "Naruto Uzumaki, friend and partner of Dorumon." He tells Tokomon and the little strands that were like ears wiggle at hearing his partner's name. "I can understand the friend part, but why would you marry each other?" Tokomon asks, causing him to choke on air.

As he finishes a coughing fit that followed him choking on air, he answers in hopes of setting the little guy straight, "We're not married, it just means that I help Dorumon Digivolve and he offers his protection." _'Not that I need it that often.'_ He muses silently to himself as Tokomon thinks on this for a few seconds. "Huh, how come you just don't turn into a Digimon to defend yourself?" Tokomon asks and it's his turn to be puzzled. "For one thing, I don't think my Digivice is up for that task and I don't need to do so because I have Dorumon." He says finally, feeling uneasy at the thought anybody transforming into a Digimon.

"Oh! It's because you'd need a Legendary Warrior spirit to transform, right?" Tokomon asks with his eyes shining as if he finally discovered the secret to the universe. "Right." He say even though he's got no clue as to what Tokomon means by Legendary Warrior spirit, but he tries to keep that puzzlement off of his face.

"Anyway, I don't suppose you know where Dorumon is at this particular moment." He says, changing the subject as he reaches out to snag his bag before he stands up. "Sure I do! My teacher, Togemon, dismissed us to talk with him as he showed up during a lesson and after a few minutes, he began asking a whole bunch of questions about what the lesson is centered about." Tokomon says and then within a few seconds, the little Digimon moves quickly from him in the likely direction of where his partner is.

"Follow me! I'll take you to the school house!" Tokomon declares and once more, moving more quickly then he'd thought, Tokomon vanishes off the trail. With a shake of his head, it didn't take him long to keep up with the pace Tokomon set as the little white Digimon leads him through the forest. When they entered into an open field, he couldn't help but stop as he turns to regard the sight of the sky. _'It's official; I'm in a totally new Digital world. This just confirms it.'_ He thinks as he stares at the blue sky that had a few clouds floating over head while a sun beams down from above.

"Hey Tokomon, what's the rush?" A new Digimon asks while he continues to stare dumbly up at the sky, his mind trying to come to terms with the fact that he's in a Digital world that's similar to that Digimon anime that he discovered during his stay with Yamaki. He feels a bit of a ping at the thought of his distant 'uncle' and then his thoughts drifted to the friends he made.

With a sigh, he blinks and glances down to find himself kind of surrounded by a large group of In-Training Digimon. They were gazing at him with looks of awe and a bit of hero worship. "Err, hi there." He says, highly agitated at how still they were being.

Pretty much all of the In-Training Digimon greet him with their own version of 'Hi!', 'Yo!', 'Hey.', 'What's up?', and 'Hello.' He just fixates a smile to his face as he scans about the crowd for Tokomon. Within seconds, the little Digimon begin murmuring among them, he found it pretty hard to keep track of what they were saying so he just gave up. He runs a hand through his hair as he suppresses the urge to sigh.

It wasn't long before he found himself being bombarded with questions, like 'Are you really a human?' or 'What's in the bag? Gifts? Are you going to give us gifts?!' He manages to hold up his hands and it takes a few minutes for them to quite down. "Ok, first off, I would like to find my good friend Dorumon, who according to Tokomon, is with your teacher, right?" He asks and they chimed at him, "Right!"

"Now then, once that's done, I'll be happy to answer your question after I've hooked up with said purpled rookie, got it?" He asks and within seconds, the little Digimon part to let him through, something he's grateful about since he rather not be forced to do something like leap over the group, he would likely make it without landing on one of them using chakra but he rather not display said abilities since it could mislead them to believe that any human could make that leap.

Once he's out of the crowd, the young Digimon once more gather in a tight crowd as he walks towards the hut that's easy to spot now that he's out of the woods. Tokomon remains a few feet ahead of him until they reach the door, then the distant shrinks. "Teacher! Teacher! I brought Dorumon's friend!" Tokomon calls out and it takes a few seconds before a very large Digimon wearing red gloves over their hands appears.

"Err, I take it Dorumon hadn't mentioned me, has he?" He asks and within seconds, the large green Digimon that seems to have needles covering their body drops in a dead faint. "I wonder if it was something I said." He muses and it wasn't long before Tokomon is giggling while Dorumon finally gets his head sticking out of the door to give him a mildly disapproving look before snorting lightly with a slight grin on his partner's fuzzy muzzle.

"I wonder how long she'll be out for." Tokomon muses as the little Digimon leaps onto one of the red gloves. "…" He turns to regard the crowd of In-Training Digimon that were now surrounding them. "So… Is this a bad time to start the Q and A section now?" One of the darker coloured Digimon asks, regarding him with a hopeful expression on their face.

As he glances back to their teacher and then at Dorumon, he sighs as his shoulders sag as he says, "Why not." The crowd of Digimon sound out a loud cheer and it didn't take long for him to find a nice spot to sit down as he answers these Digimon questions as best as he can without revealing anything too damaging.

-(V)-

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Underground**

"What do we do with him now?" A voice asks as he opens his eyes to find himself in a dark space. "I guess we can take him to the surface and load him on a Trailmon." A voice muses in a thoughtful manner.

He jerks his head, suddenly fully awake on hearing a name that's most likely that of a Digimon. It takes him a few seconds to recall what happened to him during the last few days. He glances hurriedly about the darkness before trying to feel about to see if Naruto and his pet Digimon were here with him.

After a few minutes, he calms down as it seems that not only were they not here, but he's no longer tied up. Frowning, he tries to think of what he wants to do now. Though he almost wishes Naruto was here with him, if only to get revenge on the blond who humiliated him over the last few days. He grinds his teeth as he mentally lists the offences he went through as he stands up.

It's clear to him that Daemon had likely given Naruto aid before the Digimon and the blond broke their partnership. After all, Naruto's a brain dead student, everybody in the village agreed with that observation and he'll lay odds that Daemon's responsible for Naruto's sudden show of mental strength. While he did owe Daemon for giving him access to the Digital world, after all, if he never took the Digital Monster up on his offer, he wouldn't have the new surge of power that now flows through his veins.

But it seems that Naruto's had more then enough time to gather up not just a good amount of data, but also a few lackeys too. True, that Ryo kid had tried to get to know him, but he could tell it was just an act. _'Also, it seems that Naruto's found a new patron once Daemon and his partnership broke up as well.'_ He muses, dismissing that conversation about him wanting Naruto's acknowledgment since the blond isn't just beneath him as a ninja but socially as well, after all, other then the Hyuuga, the Uchihas are practically royalty in the village.

'_He's just a common orphan, the likely produce of two lowlifes.'_ He thinks firmly as he tries to figure out which way he should head. It's so dark that he's forced to feel about him as he moves forward given that the two voices have stopped speaking long before he thought to remember from which direction they were coming from. He can't help but scowl at himself as he withdraws his hands and does a very familiar chain of hand signs.

Within seconds, everything lights up and some wooden items catch on fire. It didn't take long before voice call out and strange rock monsters come racing into the room. So unprepared to see these Digimon that he didn't try and struggle as one of them grabs his hand and leads him out of the room while the others try to stop the fire by stomping on it.

By the time he recovers from the idea of Digimon made out of rock, he finds himself out in a field with the sun slowly sinking in the horizon. Shaking off the stony hand of the Digimon, he takes a few steps away from the cave entrance before glancing about to see if there were other Digimon about. With a frown, he glares at the setting sun, hating the fact that there seems to be more of these rock Digimon about, so he can't attack and download the Digimon that's closest to him.

Then, to his relief, the Digimon closest to him heads back in to help with the clean up. As he casually glances around, be slowly begins to walk away from the settlement that he's currently in the center of. A few glance his way but they don't pay him much mind, which is fine by his since it just means that none of them will try and stop him from leaving this village. Not that it putting any distance between him and this village where he first awoke will take the bitter taste out of the back of his mouth.

'_This is Naruto's fault. If he hadn't taken that _**_Digimon_**_ up on his offer then I wouldn't have thought the offer safe.'_ He thinks darkly as he leaps over a trench as he heads in the direction he hopes is north.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

**Digi-School  
**

"Wow, I can't believe you visited a human world!" A Koromon says in amazement, stars sparkling in the little Digimon's eyes. "I can't believe there's a fruit called Dragon Fruit." A Tanemon reflects while the little Tokomon who lead Naruto here seems to be thinking about something.

"So, you're here to capture a human who's collecting fractal code of Digimon?" The Tokomon asks kind of summarizing why they're here. "Pretty much." Naruto admits and he hums in agreement while a collection of in-training Digimon lay on him from his position to Naruto's left side.

"So, does this mean that this Sasuke guy is going to collect the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors? Adding their fractal code to his?" A Poromon asks. "Legendary Warriors?" Naruto and him wonder at the same time and the little Digimon seem to be shouting a lot of different things at the same time.

'_This is already giving me a headache.'_ He groans as he lies his head back down on his forelimbs, leaving it up to his human partner to calm the masses. Something the blond has experience with as long as he's known the whiskered marked boy. _'That is, unless he's only talented when it comes to controlling Gotsumon.'_ He muses but he's not disappointed as his best friend and Tamer slowly reigns over the horde of in-training Digimon.

"Ok, ok! Calm down you guys! It's hard to hear each of you when you're all shouting at once!" Naruto says and they finally stop hopping about as they shout out their answers. "Now then, when I ask a question, you many bounce up and down but don't answer the question until I call on you, got it?" The blond asks and the gang of in-training Digimon all agree with the terms.

"Ok, now then, who can tell me why Sasuke would be interested in these Legendary Warriors?" Naruto asks and after a few seconds, the blond picks an Upamon to answer this question. "The Legendary Warriors represent the ten elements of the Digital world." The Upamon says and Naruto hums before asking, "Alright then, I can guess some of these elements, which are fire, water, earth, and wind, right?"

The crowd of in-training Digimon chime back, "Right!" Naruto nods in a thoughtful manner before asking, "Alright then, other then those four, what are the other six elements?" Once more the horde of in-training Digimon start hopping up and down, waiting for Naruto to chose one of them to answer that question.

Naruto picks a Chapmon to answer this question. "Steel is one!" The Chapmon tells them. After a few seconds, Naruto picks another Digimon, a Pagumon this time, "Thunder and ice!" His Tamer picks a Yaamon who answers, "Darkness and Light!" Next up Naruto picks a Viximon who answers, "Wood."

'_Shouldn't thunder be lightning? After all, thunder is just a sound.'_ He wonders before beginning to wonder about the difference between earth and steel, or why steel isn't just call metal. Finally he snaps out of his thoughts as Naruto continues with asking the horde of in-training Digimon more about these elemental Digimon warriors.

"Ok, what did this group do to become famous in the first place?" The blond Tamer asks and the group of in-training Digimon glance at each other, clearly not knowing the answer until Frimon on his back begins to hop up and down. "Ok, let's hear it." Naruto says after glancing about the horde of in-training Digimon.

The Frimon puffs up as the little guy says, "The first set of spirits were the ones that stopped Lucemon during his first rampage through the Digital world. After sealing the corrupted angel in the center of our world, they then their power got divided into two halves with one half being called a 'Human' spirit and the other being called a 'Beast' spirit." He blinks, kind of surprised to learn that another Demon Lord had operated in this world.

"I take it there was a second rampage recently, huh?" Naruto asks and all of the in-training Digimon nod in agreement. "How come you said Spirits of Legendary Warriors instead of calling them Legendary Warriors?" He pipes in after thinking about the previous answers.

The horde of in-training Digimon glance from him up to Naruto, clearly unsure if the rules applied when he is asking a question. "Same rules apply when Dorumon asks a question." Naruto says calmly and within seconds, a small number of in-training Digimon where hopping. Naruto picks a Motimon to answer this question.

"Well, once their power was divided, neither of the spirits were able to take physical form in the form of a Digimon so their data transformed into twenty little statues that were then entrusted to the three angel Digimon who were chosen to rule the Digital world in the wake of Lucemon's sealing." Motimon answers and he wonders if they're still in statue form now a days.

"Alright then, has Lucemon been resealed?" Naruto asks the group after a few minutes of silence. "He's been deleted by the group of Digidestine humans who came to possess the spirits of the Legendary Warriors." A Hopmon answers once Naruto points to the little guy.

"Anyone know the name of these Digidestine?" Naruto asks and Budmon is picked to answer this one. "The warrior for fire was Takuya, the one for light was Kouji, Zoe was wind, Tommy was ice, JP was thunder, and then Koichi was darkness. Kouji and Koichi were twin brothers too!"

'_How odd that the two chosen children who were chosen to take the mantles of light and darkness were twin brothers.'_ He muses although what really tickles his funny bone was the use of name Digidestine given to the children who arrived to save this Digital World. A name that had been used in the cartoon show based on Digimon.

Before either Naruto or himself could think to put forth another question to the Digimon gathered before them, the teacher of this school finally arrives on the scene. "While I must admit that this is a good review of history, it's getting late and supper is ready to be eaten." The champion level Digimon, Togemon, says and within seconds of that announcement, a lot of stomachs growl in agreement with the teacher's statement.

He waits for the Digimon on him to get off before he himself gets up off the ground. "You stiff?" Naruto asks as the blond hangs back to wait for him. "Not really, I do think that my tail might have fallen asleep on me though." He admits with a hint of amusement and Naruto chuckles in reply as his Tamer moves to take the lead, following the path the horde of in-training Digimon had taken when they followed the plant type Digimon.

- o 0 o -


	12. Chapter 12

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Frontier Digital World**

"Thanks for allowing us to have supper with you and your students, Togemon." He says, bowing slightly at the plant Digimon, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Dorumon mimic him in bowing at their hostess. "You're welcome, although, are you sure you wish to leave? Both of you are more then welcome to spend the night with us." The champion level Digimon says, uncertainty very much in evident in the seemingly female Digimon's tone.

He smiles slightly at the taller Digimon as he says, "We're sure since I'm fairly certain that if we stayed, there would be a large argument about who sleep close to Dorumon or myself." Dorumon hums in agreement. "That is true." Togemon admits reluctantly.

"We did enjoy our time here though." His purple furred partner says, speaking for both of them. He nods and with that, they turn away from the group of students and their teacher to begin walking away. "Bye!" The crowd of young Digimon call out as Dorumon and himself. "Bye! See you!" He calls out as he glances over his shoulder while his hands keep a firm grip on his back pack straps.

Soon, the hut and its occupants were out of their sight and he sighs but remains firm about his decision to not spend any more time with the group. "I don't like the idea of these spirits, _Hige_." His partner says and he nods in agreement with a slightly frown as he recalls the story of the second defeat of Lucemon.

"I don't either… I shudder at the though of Sasuke being able to transform into a Digimon. It's just so wrong; he's a _human_ not some… feral _Digimon_." He says before he realizes what Dorumon called him. "Dorumon." He growls as he draws out his partner Digimon's name as he sends a minor glare at the purple rookie.

"I thought you won't mind hearing your nickname since Ryo's not here to say it." Dorumon says as innocently as the Digimon could but the purple rookie couldn't mask the sparkling glint in his eyes. "Keep that up and I just might decide you need your own nickname."

"Oh? And what kind of nickname will it be, something along the line of Dragon I believe." Dorumon says, causing him to resist the urge to stick out his tongue at the rookie. "I can do originality, if I want to, Fluffy." He says and grins widely as Dorumon sends him a scratching look.

"Like Fluffy is original." Dorumon counters and he chuckles at the irritating look on his partner's muzzle. "Give it time, purple one, can't rush the thought process." He remarks to the purple Digimon as he turns to look where they're going with his arms now in his jacket pockets.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

"No luck?" Naruto asks him once the blond has his feet back on solid ground. He shakes his head, causing the bewhiskered boy to sigh. He could tell that this search is wearing on the blond, but then, they were lucky to win those Trailmon tickets, even though the rails don't cover every square kilometre of this Digital world.

'_Although using Trailmons are a very quick and easy way to get around this world.'_ He tells himself as Naruto takes out a map of Digital world and begins to figure out the nearest town or railway station. He just stretches a bit before sitting down to wait for this human partner to be ready to go.

So far in the pass two weeks, they've managed to visit at least two countries and the majority of their villages, towns, and cities that exist within that country. Nobody seemed to know about any other human beyond the one he's traveling with, but it just means that Sasuke's keeping a low profile in this world. _'Which makes perfect sense considering how the attitudes of the locals.'_ He admits, a small part of him kind of wished he had been hatched here but he puts an end to that way of thinking, after all, things turned out for the best since he now has a Tamer who's not just a partner but a friend.

"It's almost been a month since we started this." Naruto says suddenly, causing him to glance at his partner before nodding in agreement. "I wonder how Yamaki and them are doing without Ryo and us to deal with the majority of Bio Merges?" The blond wonders again and he hums thoughtfully for a few seconds.

"Well, for your 'uncle', he might have used the excuse that you're visiting your village because of an emergency. As to the rest… For all we know, because we're gone some of those Bio Merged Digimon might have partnered up with some kids and have taken over our duties in that regard." He says and the blond smiles before nodding in agreement.

"For all we know, Ryo and Cyberdramon had returned to the human world and are patrolling it for rogue Digimon." He points out and Naruto turns to look at him while wearing a warm smile on his face. "We can hope so. I really don't want us to be the reason why they're still in the Digital world." The blond boy says and with a flick of his tail, he replies, "Just as long as you remember that we're not really responsible if we are the reason they're still in the Digital world when we get back."

"I'll try and remember that, you over grown fluff ball." The blond Tamer says and with a growl of, "Hige!" The blond is already running off at a jog, having finished putting the map away before needling him with the comparison. "Get back here you Baka and I'll show you want this 'over grown fluff ball' is capable of!"

"I already know, Dorumon, I already know!" Is Naruto's answering call as he tries to catch up with his speedy Tamer, even now he's stunned by just how quickly the blond can move when he really wants to move it. _'One day I'll overtake him, be it with wings or on foot! Humans are not supposed to be this fleet of foot!'_ He declares mentally as he tries to overtake his partner.

After an hour or so, Naruto finally lets up on the pace, allowing him to take a breather he so desperately needed. "Damn it, Naruto! Why are so… so… fit? I know the world you come from is different, but damn it, you're only human!" He says as the blond hands him a bottle filled with water.

"Call it selective breeding, Dorumon, because that's pretty much what is going on at my home. If you couldn't out fight, out last, or out run your opponent, you don't add your genes to the next generation. It also helps that we don't have a lot in the way of technology so they still rely on people to fight, not machines or computers. Of course if they likely would recoil at the thought of war being considered culling of the herd, but that's basically what has happen and will continue happening until someone finally decides to go against tradition and bring guns into it." Naruto says and he couldn't help but stare at the blond.

"I've been reading out of my science text book and thinking about how that evolution applies to the people of my world." Naruto admits with a sigh and he nods while making a mental note to get a hold of said book because it might explain why the Digital world he's from exists the way it does.

"So you're the produce of two ninja descended people breeding? I bet your parents are spinning in their graves on hearing that one." He says and Naruto sighs while shrugging. "I wouldn't know if they were cremated or buried, Dorumon, nobody even gave me names of either nor did I really get a chance to look through the list of the dead in hopes of finding someone with my last name." Naruto say.

"But if they gave you a last name, shouldn't they know who your parents are?" He asks, he recalls watching a few documentaries about Japan and Japanese culture. "Maybe… Likely… Not that it matters, Dorumon, I'm never going to return there even if somebody offers me every single book and scroll containing information on chakra, how to control it, copies of every jutsu the village has access to, bit it private or public, and if they offer the title of Hokage to me." The blond tells him.

"I'm kind of under the impression that families matter to humans." He mutters softly to himself. "In most cases it is but, well, I just don't want to beat around the bush anymore, the old man never saw fit to tell me so I'm just to let it lie buried under wherever the old man buried it. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, friend and Tamer of Dorumon and Yamaki's 'bratty' nephew, it's a heck of a lot better then being the demon brat of Hidden Leaf and dead last of the ninja academe." Naruto declares.

He let it lie, not wanting to cause anymore pain to his friend. Once he's done with the bottle, he hands it over to Naruto, who then, put it into his backpack. "Ready?" The blond asks him and he just nods.

"Then let's go." Naruto says and with that, they start down the trail once more, hoping to find and capture Sasuke Uchiha before the month is out.

-(V)-

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Town Outskirts**

Scowling at the rain, privately glad that he managed to steal this hooded cape, he continues to walk down a stone paved road, heading towards a town filled with a variety of monsters. He despises the lot because just looking at them reminded him of Deamon and that upstart Gazimon. It really didn't help that fresh and in-training Digimon were few and when they are around, they're well protected, making it hard for him to even dream of killing one to absorb its strength, making it his own.

'_What good are they if I can't absorb their strength to further my own? Although, these Legendary Spirits that I've heard about might just be what I need to finally have the kind of power I need to kill __**him**__ and to return to my world to do so.'_ He thinks, a slight smirk appears as he imagines how good it would feel to hold his brother's head in his hands…

With a shake, he snaps out of his happy place as he hears thunder crackle overhead. "But first, I need to find their resting places." He mutters to himself as he avoids a few rapidly forming puddles that were beginning to appear on the road as the rain continues to fall as he begins to think up ways of getting these monsters to give up the information he needed to find these so called spirits.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

He watches as a cloaked figure walks on the streets below his position on top of a shop roof as rain continues to pour down. The figure grabbed his attention simply because the being is wearing a hooded cape, something that few Digimon wore at any time, even if the weather is foul. _'Only those that need to move about anonymously wear them.'_ He mentally adds while wearing his own hooded cape, one fitted to his frame by a tailor who Dorumon and him had saved from a gang of bandits a few days earlier.

"So few people look up." He murmurs as he walks to the edge of the roof. He didn't have to worry about Dorumon since the purple furred rookie's currently in one of the three inns of the town. His partner is trying to find hints of Sasuke's MO as well as for rumor location of where these Legendary Spirits are resting so that they can go and make sure that they haven't been disturbed.

If they weren't, then he planned to set up alarms and traps in hopes of catching the Uchiha as he tries to steal them. It didn't take a genius to know that the Uchiha is only interested in power and those Spirits seem to be a type of easily obtained type of power too.

With ease and a touch of gracefulness, he leaps onto the next roof and as silently as he can, walks across the wet and slightly slanted roof. It didn't take long before he's once more leaping from one roof top to another as he trails the cloaked figure below. It hadn't taken him long to begin to use chakra to keep himself from falling off of a slippery roof as the storm doesn't let up.

Finally after following, the brown cloaked figure to one of the inns of the town, he crouches down and watches as the person pauses by the door. The hood ruffles as the person under the bit of cloth glances this way and that before the figure faces the series of roof tops across from that side of the street. Then the cloaked figure finally enters into the inn, he begins to debate about following the cloaked figure into the inn.

With a sigh, he gets up and begins to head to the inn his partner's at. _'That might just be him. Hopefully he'll remain in the inn until Dorumon and I arrive to check to confirm that it's him. Dorumon did say he knows Sasuke's scent…'_ He thinks as he leaps from one roof to another, making sure to use chakra to coat the soles of his shoes so he sticks to the wet roof tops.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

With his keen ears he hears a familiar rhythmic knock on the door leading into the inn. Trying not to look too alarmed at the knock, he scans the crowd for a few seconds before he gets up from his seat. Placing a few coins on the table to cover the cost of his drink, he heads to leave the bar part of the inn.

'_I still don't get why they don't just make and run a bar instead of creating an inn on the other floors.'_ He thinks with a bit of frustration. They've come through many towns and they have yet to find a restaurant that wasn't attached to an inn.

Once he's out of the building and getting pelted by rain, he couldn't help but shiver slightly as the chill of the stormy night hits him. With a slight shake of his head, he moves to the right. With a sigh, he finds an alley between the inn and another building, likely a storehouse or a set of rooms for the Digimon of a much larger size then ten feet in height.

"I think I spotted him entering into the Spotted Leaf." The cloaked blond tells him. He perks at that as he gives a blink of surprise before cocking his head at his partner.

"You didn't follow him in?" He asks and Naruto chuckles slight, before moving to grab the edge of his hood as the wind picks up slightly. His partner sighs and motions for them to start walking.

"If it is him and he bolts… well, I don't want you wondering where I am while I give chase." 'Hige' explains and he had to smile slightly at that; after all, it helps reaffirm just how much the blond treasured their friendship. It only made him more grateful that he had chosen this human as his Tamer.

"He just might throw caution to the wind and go on the offensive." He decides to point out and the blond sighs.

"That could happen too." Naruto admits, the fabric ruffles as the blond shrugs. "Then the problem will be how the others in the bar will react to seeing two humans; let's not forget that the pair would be fighting as well." Naruto adds and he just nods in agreement.

"I don't think these Digimon could handle seeing two human attacking each other by summoning fire or causing the earth to shake." He states as they turn a corner as they continue to walk through the town. Lightning flashes above them and a few minutes later thunder sounds out.

"It's getting worst." He hears Naruto mutter softly before the blond tries to pull the dark purple cloak more around him. He flicks his slightly drenched tail before shaking his upper body, his tiny wings didn't do much other then flop around as more lightning dance among the clouds.

"It might be a blessing if he does stay and fight." He comments as he glances up at the black clouds over head as thunder echoes once more in the seemingly stillness of the night.

"Well, if he does flee, you can stay at the inn. After all, you have your own money pouch, so it's not as if I'm carrying all of our money." The blond says in a light tone.

"I just hope we can take him down without a lot of fuss." He says with a sigh. The wind chose that moment to pick up and push them from behind for a few minutes before going down in strength.

'_What a horrid storm.'_ He admits as he shivers as the chill seeps into his body, his wet fur doesn't seem to be much protection against both the wind and the temperature.

"I think its started to hail." His partner muses and within the next few minutes, he began to pick up on something causing the windows to rattle before he spots the little white pebbles that are now falling down from the sky.

"I thought that lightning doesn't accompany hail storms." He says in a frank tone.

"That might not be how it works here, in this world." Naruto answers in a blank tone, likely finding this new development to be very unwanted.

- o 0 o -


	13. Chapter 13

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Frontier Digital World**

He just glances around the various tables; some were empty while the rest had more of those Digital Monsters seated. Waiters weave about the chairs and tables to deliver food and drink to hungry and thirsty customers. He had slapped down a few bills of the local currency at the bar, the bills vanished a few seconds before a drink appeared by his right hand.

The golden coloured Digimon hums softly as the Digimon flutters about the shelves where various bottles are resting. The white and purple wings barely move as the golden Digimon flies. He glances away from the _unnatural_ sight since those wings should be moving about but they **don't**.

'_If only I feel up to it, I would stalk this monster after it gets off work and put it out of my misery.'_ He thinks in a distracted kind of way as he gulps down the drink. A slight and soft squeak which is then followed by two sets of foot steps with at least one set of foot falls causes slight clicking, which likely means that a set of foot steps belonged to something with claws. The second set sound lighter then the set with claws, in the end, he decides that two new customers had entered into the restaurant part of the inn then a single customer.

The two walk behind him since they caused his robe to sway slightly from their passing behind him. A few coins drop onto the counter and a muffled voice says, "Two star berry lemonades."

"Right a way, sir." The golden flying Digimon says in a slightly feminine voice replies. He feels his skin crawl at the idea that the monster behind the counter could be female.

It takes him a few seconds to realize that he really should have ordered something other then leaving it up to the Digimon to pick his drink as he begins to feel a slight sense of giddiness and light headed. The headache he's been sporting since he started loading data from the local Digimon population. Its pressure seems to subside slightly, which could be why he feels so light headed.

'_You know, there's something familiar about that one that put those coins on the counter…'_ He finally realizes as he glances in a stealthy manner to his right. He couldn't help but wonder where he's seen such purple hair.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**The Spotted Leaf**

'_He must be plastered. He's not even bothering to turn away.'_ He decides after glancing in Sasuke's direction after a few minutes of having said boy looking right at him with a puzzled look on said pale face. Sasuke's charcoal black eyes seem a bit more focused on his partner.

Dorumon tries to get his attention and he turns to look at his friend. Dorumon gives him a worried look before glancing beyond him to Sasuke before looking back at him. It takes him a few seconds before he silently forms an 'Oh'. He inclines his head and Dorumon flashes him a small smile before his partner finishes off his drink and heads off to find a restroom.

He waits a bit before turning to see Sasuke's reaction and frowns at the sight of Sasuke silently giggling. It takes him a few seconds to realize that Sasuke wasn't on the 'ball' at this particular moment. "Excuse me but what kind of drinks has…" He motions at Sasuke and the Butterflymon hums thoughtfully.

"Well, he did fork over more then enough to pay for four Knock Out drinks. He is on his third… scratch that, final drink." The golden armour Digimon says as the feminine bar keep picks up the empty glass.

"Not drunk enough not to recognize your friend!" Sasuke states in a loud, harsh whisper with a manic grin plastered on Sasuke's pale face. "I'm so going to delete him, you too for that matter." Sasuke adds after a few seconds of thought.

"You are so wasted it isn't even funny." He says with a slight hint of amusement, although he can only hope that his voice is still disguised when he said that. Sasuke picks up the newly filled glass and begins to drink from it before he could think to take the drink from the Uchiha.

By the time his partner returns, he's wrapping wire about Sasuke's wrists. "Well, that's kind of anti-climatic." The purple furred Digimon admits as they head out of the restaurant.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" A voice says less then a mile from the Spotted Leaf. He turns to find a tall humanoid Digimon in gold armour with a blue cape fluttering about behind the Digimon. "I am Grademon and I'm here to escort your partner, yourself, and… _him_ to Ophanimon's castle." Grademon says and he couldn't help but blink up at the tall Digimon.

"He's been loading Digimon again, hasn't he?" He asks the warrior Digimon and the other doesn't say anything. He closes his eyes as grief tugs at his heart strings. "Well, lead on then, Grademon. We can't keep a lady waiting, can we?" He says after a few minutes in a cheerless tone.

Grademon nods in a sharp way before turning around, clearly expecting them to follow. He carries the out of it Sasuke over his shoulder while Dorumon walks behind him. He felt so guilty about all of this, after all, if he hadn't listened to that man, he would still be in Hidden Leaf, attending the academe with Sasuke. _'And neither of us would ever know anything about Digimon, traveled to another dimension, nor would I have met Ryo and Henry…'_

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

**Outside of Ophanimon's Castle**

**Four Days Later**

The pale scrawny boy known as Sasuke continues to glare into the back of Grademon's head. _'We really should have left him in that cell. After all, nothing he tried to do worked once Sorcermon set up those spells on him.'_ He thinks before dismissing Sasuke out of his mind to worry about Naruto.

The golden haired boy that is his partner has been pretty withdrawn since they climbed aboard into that Trailmon's car. All Naruto would do was brood throughout the whole trip, which is why he's pretty worried about Naruto since the be-whiskered boy has never acted this way before and he really didn't know how to snap his partner out of it either. He pauses to turn to glance at his partner who's walking in the rear, it's clear that Naruto hasn't even taken a glance at the castle they're approaching either since Naruto's gaze isn't really on his surroundings but his thoughts.

'_Just what are you thinking about, Naruto?'_ He wonders as he slows down to get in step with his partner. Naruto seems to blinks after a few seconds before turning to glance at him with a slight sheepish grin.

"I've been brooding, haven't I?" His partner asks and he hums in agreement. "Sorry, it's just, if I hadn't accepted that offer…" Naruto says, trailing off and Dorumon just mentally beheads Sasuke before trying to think of a way to comfort his partner.

"You're not responsible for anything that… that… pasty face fleshy virus!" He informs his friend and partner with a great deal of venom even though he tries to keep his voice down. "Whatever actions he's done while in the Digital world… worlds, isn't because of you! It's not as if you were the one holding his hand while he's doing said action!" He adds and Naruto blinks before slowly nodding his head.

"I know, I know. It's just, I can't help but feel guilty about the fact that I accepted that offer and that because I accepted it, it opened the way for Sasuke to receive that offer too." The bright blond admits with a sigh as Naruto's eyes flicker to the back of Grademon since Sasuke is being forced to walk before said knight like Digimon. "This brooding thing is more Sas… err, Uchiha's thing then mine." The young preteen admits.

"Think of it this way, at least his punishment won't be your task to carry out." He adds softly and Naruto sighs before beginning to nod in agreement. _'Let's hope that this is the end of this.'_ He thinks to himself as they finally enter into the castle, a castle that belongs to one of the three rulers of this Digital world.

-(V)-

**Sasuke Uchiha**

'_You're searching has come to an end.'_ A genderless voice informs him in a final tone. He, privately, would have preferred his previous headache to this sudden case of emptiness that isn't really empty.

'_So, you're saying that all of the spirits are within this castle?'_ He inquires as he slowly begins tense up while glancing about the hallway, trying to get a _feel_ of this stone building that he's being marched through. All he gets from that 'empty' space is a soft, gentle warmth for a few seconds, likely all the confirmation he'll get from whatever presence is within that space.

'_Now then, just how am I going to escape from these three so I can find and absorb those spirits.'_ He thinks, not caring for the fact that he hasn't the slightest clue what to look for when it comes to these spirits either. _'I wonder where the treasure room would be…'_ He muses as he recalls some stories about such things within castles.

'_Hopefully this castle is no different.'_ He adds as they come to a staircase. A minor poke in his back is all that he needs to know that he's expected to walk up those stone stairs. The clinking of armour tells him that the golden Digimon is just a few steps behind him and a few minutes later, the sound of clicking nails assures him that the Dobe and the Dobe's pet monster are following as well.

'_The question becomes, do I escape now or later?'_ He muses as an escape plan slowly comes together within his mind. He considers both options since the two have their own pros and cons that could spell success for his chances of escape to locate these spirit statues that are of the ten elements.

'_Escaping later would mean that nobody but the guard would know that I've escaped… but there's always a chance they could rig the cell like they did on the train. Although it seems that I won't have to deal with the idiot and his purple furred monster right off the bat.'_ He muses to himself.

Next he considers the benefits of trying to escape now, with the loud mouth blond and pet monster within ten feet of him. _'Escaping now means that I won't have to put up with acting like I'm weak and helpless, hide someplace and wait for the alarm to die down before exploring this place on my own. But they would be on their guard and likely place guards that I can't handle around said treasure room.'_ He reminds himself, particularly worrying is if he is caught after making such an escape that the security around his holding cell would certainly make it highly improbable of him escaping out of said imaginary cell.

'_Better decide fast or I'll miss my biggest opportunity to escape.'_ He reminds himself as he spots an opening leading out of the staircase. _'Which will it be, going along to get judged or escaping run under this bastard's nose on the way to said judgement?'_ He asks himself but in the end, he knew which choice it had to be, no matter his thoughts and feelings on the matter were.

'_That bar keeper had to have spiked those damned drinks, didn't it? Why else would I feel so weak? This knight monster must have bribed that stupid bar keeper to dose me with something.'_ He thinks as they walk pass the first opening into a hallway.

'_Hopefully they'll give me the antidote once they have me in that cell.'_ He thinks to himself as the aching in his legs, especially around his ankles, continue to try and distract him from his musings. He, of course, refused to inform his capturers of the misery they're inflicting on him since he doesn't want them to have the satisfaction of knowing that they're succeeding in humiliating him.

He's an Uchiha, the last living legacy of a proud clan of ninja. Though he suffers, he will suffer in silence, which is appropriate for somebody from his noble clan. Though he is making a list of who will suffer what for his numerous humiliations that are being inflicted on him as he walks through this stone castle.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

Ever since they entered into the stone castle, he felt as if something is watching him. The feeling only seem to grow stronger, causing him to become kind of nervous and edgy. Although he hasn't gotten to the point where his eyes darted to every shadow in expectance of seeing some hidden watcher watching him, he couldn't help but feel that it wouldn't be long before he found himself doing it.

"You ok?" The purple furred rookie asks him with worry radiating from Dorumon's golden eyes. He just sighs while trying to force his shoulders to relax.

"Just seems as if I'm getting paranoid the longer I'm walking about in this castle." He admits after a few seconds while scratching the side of his head. "I just can't help but feel as if somebody is watching us…"

Dorumon frowns while his partner's bushy tail swings side to side a bit faster then it had before this conversation started. "Maybe we are being watched. After all, Sasuke likely has aggravated a lot of Digimon during his stay here. It wouldn't be that shocking to imagine more then a few Digimon wanting some payback, right?"

He thinks about it and then nods, his head slowly. "You do make a good point." He admits before adding, "Almost makes you wish he would try something, don't it?"

"I rather he didn't." The purple Digimon replies and he winces. He just sighs while wondering if somebody gagged the Uchiha since he expected Sasuke to be cursing up a storm and ranting about how they 'couldn't do this to him'.

"We wouldn't want to tempt fate, huh?" He muses with a slight grin after a few minutes. Dorumon just nods in agreement and with a flicker of the bushy tail, Dorumon picks up the pace.

With a shake of his head, he begins to take inventory of what's on his person, not counting what's in his pack. _'I wonder if my using of modify cards work here?'_ He wonders as he touches his deck of cards last and takes them out.

For a moment, he recalls the last game he played with Ryo. Thinking about the older Tamer causes him to wish Ryo had gotten sucked into the portal along with Sasuke, Dorumon, and himself. He gets shaken out of his thoughts as his partner diverges out of the staircase, likely following Grademon and Sasuke.

'_Well, we're here.'_ He after walking down this hall, he puts the cards back into the card protector on his belt. He glances about the edge of the large doors, wondering if those markings mean anything. _'Maybe they represent programs like what Digidestine in Digimon Adventures found during their journey through the Digital world...'_ He muses at the sight of the symbols on the rim stones of the door.

"You are permitted to enter." A very familiar Digimon says and he couldn't help but stare at Nefertimon standing before the doors. He had encountered plenty of other Armour evolutions during their time searching for Sasuke in this world but hadn't really expected to see any of those featured in the show.

Grademon likely nods stiffly at the winged Digimon as soon as the doors swing inward, revealing a minor corridor lined with torches with a large table at the end. While he was busy glancing about the corridor, it seems that Grademon and Sasuke were already moving down the torch lit corridor. With a soft sigh, he fast walks to fall within three to four feet of Grademon's back.

Again that feeling of being watched causes him to grow edgy as they reach the open room. He blinks at the sight of at least two familiar mega level Digimon. _'Seraphimon and Cherubimon… I wonder who the third one is?'_

"I have brought the destroyer and these two travelers as well." Grademon says after bowing to the three angelic Digimon. The three glance at Dorumon and himself before glancing at Sasuke, Cherubimon has a slight frown on his face while looking at the Uchiha.

"You have our thanks for escorting them, Grademon." The female looking angel Digimon says and Grademon inclines his helmed head in acknowledgement. "Might you introduce our other guests?" The female member of this trinity asks.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki and his… friend Dorumon." Grademon says in way of introducing his partner and himself. "Naruto, Dorumon, I would like to introduce to you the three Celestial Digimon that rule this world. To the left is Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and finally to the right, Cherubimon."

"Hi." He says in way of greeting, a little overwhelmed with being introduced to the governing body of this particular Digital world. _'Hope I don't make a bad impression…'_ He thinks to himself as he becomes acutely aware of his current set of cloths while Dorumon bows.

"Naruto… Look…" Dorumon whispers to him while Grademon picks up Sasuke since the other boy wouldn't move when probed by the golden knight Digimon to move beyond the table. He gives his friend a puzzled look and the rookie jerks his head to the far right wall.

He glances that way and then stares at the sight of this small looking statue that's on a shelf of the wall. With a slight frown, he begins to glance around the chamber and spots more of them; some were placed higher up while the rest were within high reaching distance.

'_Head busts?'_ He wonders before a surprised shout echoes about the chamber. "Sasuke, don't!" Dorumon cries out but it's a bit late as Sasuke manages to hit one of those busts, causing light to flash throughout the chamber.

- o 0 o -

**Omake**

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Reunion**

"I wish to introduce to you my teacher. Naruto, I'm sure you remember Rika from the tournament you entered me in." He says as he places his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I also believe you know most of the others as well." He adds and Hige nods.

"Oh yea, nice to meet you." Naruto says with a friendly grin while most of the Tamers seem to be absorbing the fact that he just admitted that he had an instructor and that he didn't enter himself in that tournament. "This is my partner, Dorumon." The blond adds and the most of the group turns to glance at the purple furred rookie.

"You taught Ryo?" Kazu asks and his fellow dimensional traveler nods. His two fan-boys begin to give Naruto starry eyes while Henry just looks bemused while Takato has a slightly bewildered look on his face while Guilmon steps forward to greet Dorumon.

"Now, since I know Rika's looking for a rematch with me so I've got a deal. You have to beat Naruto here and then I'll have that rematch with you. How does that sound?" He says to the usually grouchy red head. _'Hook...'_

"Is he any good?" Rika asks as she apprises the blond that's standing a foot before him. Naruto glances his way with a slightly surprised look on his be-whiskered face. _'Line…'_

"DK?" Hige says with a slight frown but he moves to stand fully behind his friend. With both hands on both of Naruto's shoulders, he gives a sharp push so that Naruto takes a few steps towards the red head while the others repeat Hige's nickname for him.

"What's wrong, _Hige_? You scared to go up against a girl?" He asks the blond while Rika's eyes narrow. _'Sinker."_

"This isn't about that!" Naruto says sharply while the blond focuses on him. He knows what Naruto's implying but none of the others did, which is why he fought to keep a smile off his face as Rika grabs a hold of Naruto's wrist.

"Fine, if that's what it takes to get my rematch then I'll play him here, right now." Rika snaps and drags the blond to a clear spot while Naruto sends tiny glares his way.

"I don't get it. I mean, Ryo's the Digimon King, you've likely wiped the floor with Naruto a hundred times!" Kazu says while scratching the side of his head.

"Actually, I've never won a single match with Naruto. Have you Henry?" He asks the orange vest wearing Tamer.

"Never did either." Henry admits. This causes the rest of the Tamers glance between Henry and him in hopes of finding out that they're just joking.

"You mean you just set Rika up against somebody not even you have beaten?" Takato asks and he nods. The silence that greets this announcement is deafening.

"How did you manage to do that?" Rika yells and he just grins while Naruto just sighs.

- o 0 o -


	14. Chapter 14

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Frontier Digital World**

He couldn't help but feel a thrill surge through him as he's forced through the doorway. With each step he took down the corridor, he could feel his heart beat increase and his senses seem to sharpen. As he comes to the end of the corridor, he does jerk at the shear size and feeling of power that the three before him give off. He swallows as his mouth suddenly feels very dry.

The golden brute then addresses the three beings, two of whom almost looked human… With blood beating in his ears, he doesn't really hear what the golden brute is saying, though if he tried he probably could but doesn't particularly care as something catches his eye. _'There they are. Now you just need to do is grab them.'_ The genderless voice says with their tone being coloured with excitement and longing. _'Just one would be enough…'_ The voice says and he begins to glance around, trying to locate one he can easily get at before they manage to grab him.

Testing his bindings, his gaze settles on a bust with black being the predominate color with dusty gold. The face seems to be framed in the fashion that suggests a lion. Not that he particularly cares as he uses his new found energy to leaps towards said small statue with the intent of claiming it. He ignores Naruto's shout, he thinks it's Naruto's at any rate, since whatever the blond has to say couldn't possibly be important since the other kid is clearly on monster side instead of the human side, namely his side.

As his fingers touch the statue, light erupts and he manages to just grunt in surprise while alarm shouts echo about the room. He feels a rush of power, power that slices through his bindings before he finds his vision clears. He's a bit stunned at his new vision but without any urging, he leaps once more upwards to grab another of those statues onto for something to hit him in the back.

He jerks to evade the hilt of the golden brute's sword and, as if summoned by the single thought, a red wavy blade appears in his dominate hand as he lashes out with said hand. He manages to do some damage on the golden brute's midsection even though this is the first time he's used a sword. _'It almost feels as if it's part of my arm…'_ He muses while smirking.

He notices Naruto's pet opening its mouth and is slightly surprised to see metal balls coming at him. He knew he wouldn't be able to block all of them so he dodges to the left. He leaps onto the table and with a back flip, manages to snag a statue featuring a howling wolf in white and purple armour. He's forced to let go of said statue from blinding pain that's threatening to tear him apart from the inside out.

He lands a bit hard on his side since he hadn't been able to recover quickly enough from touching said white statue. He manages to snap out of it soon enough to block a strike from the golden brute's sword. He notices some of the statues taking to the air and realizes that if he's to grab another he had to move fast before the three more powerful Digimon manage to claim them.

While fending the golden brute off, he glances around, trying to pick out another statue that he could claim before fleeing. It doesn't help that Naruto's purple menace is already moving to cover the golden brute. Then, it's as if everything slows down and he begins to see a way to grab one of the floating statues that's heading for the more monstrous of the powerful monster.

As time returns to normal, he's already enacting the plan he thought of by rolling under the table and getting onto his belly before bolting out from under the table. He leaps onto one of the chairs and then with chakra empowering his legs, leaps into the air and grabs a white bust that have braids. Light erupts from simple contact and once more, waves over power flow over him before flowing into him.

And odd sense of coldness seems to crop up within him, helping him to fully control his emotions. As he twists in the air, he manages to reflect a few of the metal balls erupting out of Naruto's pet's mouth. As he lands on his feet, he embraces the shadows as the golden brute's swords come singing towards him and moving through him.

Within seconds, he's already moving for the door as the rest of the statues are now in the possession of the three mega level Digimon. Though he's only got two halves of two different aspects, he knows he stands little chance retrieving either from the three supposed 'holy' monsters. His eyes narrow as he spots that flying human faced cat coming down the corridors while he keeps weaving as he's moving since he can hear those metal balls landing just a few centre meters behind him or to his side.

'_Time to shed this mortal coil…'_ That voice within him says and before he reaches the human face flying feline, his surrounding blacks out and he feels light as a feather as well.

As he blinks he finds himself in a very simplistic landscape. What disturbs him though is a sphere of light that's hovering a few feet before him. _'You truly don't know what you've unleashed have you, human?'_ An almost regal voice says and he glances to his right to find what appears to be a man dressed in black lion armour.

'_Playing with forces you couldn't possibly comprehend... You should have left well enough alone, boy. But now it's too late for you, for soon what you've gathered with hatch. You are just the shell holding it and now, with us, it's ready to be born.'_ A much gruffer voice says and he turns to his other side to find a chained behemoth covered in shaggy white hair.

'_The darkness you contain shall continue on now. All because you disregarded orders to get a 'quick' power up. But you forgot that all things have a price tag.'_ The creature that's dressed in black armour states, looking at him coolly with blue eyes and he felt a bit more uneasy and glances at the other monster, but the other isn't looking at him though.

"I am an avenger! I don't care what you have to say! I will kill my brother and what do you know? I am an Uchiha! We help found Hidden Leaf, which is one of the most powerful ninja village of my world! Nothing will stand in my way, you hear me?! Nothing!" He tells the pair though his voice ends in a shout.

'_You are truly a fool.'_ The creature in black armour says in a soft, almost pitying tone. He balls his fists and is about to approach the thing when something flashes. _'And so it begins.'_ The hairy beast mutters as he turns to look at the glowing cloud in the shape of a sphere.

Suddenly there's wind, he grinds his teeth and brings his arms up to protect his face. There's a kunai in his left hand and through narrow eyes he watches as the blue energy begins to morph. As the basic body plan comes together, the wind suddenly reverses and the two chained monsters cry out in pain which suddenly causes shadows and ice to be pulled into the still glowing creature.

Finally armour, hide, and fur grow as patches of blue retreat which is soon followed by claws on the tips of fingers and toes. Outlines for eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and even a set of horns appear upon the head part of the glowing being. A cocky grin forms on the newly created face and eyes open to reveal purple eyes.

The being stands at over five and half feet in height, covered in orange brown fur with what bits of weren't covered by fur is black although the 'hair' on the of the head is silvery white in colour. The forward pointing horns were ivory white in color. The ears were humanish although they did end in a point.

Dull gray armour in the form of a left arm guard, metal glove, chest plate, and shin guard could be seen on the new monster's body as well as a pair of simple blue shorts. On the right breast chest plate of the armour is the tadpole design done out in orange while the rest of the armour seem to feature other alien symbols, although those were done out in red. With a few mighty shakes of its head, a long braid of white hair swings about behind the new monster's back.

"So, how do I look, _father_?" The creature asks in a light hearted tone that also seems to have an underlying edge to it. He couldn't help but bristle at some bit of scum calling him that. "What? Should I be calling you papa? Or maybe dad?" The creature asks him and he just glares at the thing.

"I'm not your anything, beast." He spats at the newly formed monster but the thing just smirks even wider with a slight fang flashing. He grips the hilt of the kunai while studying the monster with hate filled eyes.

"Ah, is that anyway to welcome your _son_? After all, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even exist!" The creature remarks before adding thoughtfully. "Or maybe I should be calling you mom, I mean; you are pretty much carrying me within your body, although from what I gather about humans, pregnancy lasts almost ten months..."

He increases his glare a few notches since he doesn't particularly like what this… thing is implying. "I'm not your anything, you filthy beast." He snaps and with his left foot digging into the ground, he darts forward to kill this creature but as he manages to get close to gut the thing, it grips his wrist and manages to hold his arm with an inch space between the point of the kunai and the creature's belly.

"Now, now mother, that's not the proper way to greet your child!" The thing muses in that same light, bemusing tone with that underlying edge. "From what I've gathered from your memories, it's customary for parents to give their children names, you know." The thing adds as the other arm shoots out to grab him by the throat and hold him up in the air viva the throat.

"Not going to offer up a name, eh? Well, guess that means I'll have to pick a name myself." The orange furred monster muses as he tries to force the creature to stop holding him viva his throat and not having much luck.

He finally realizes that he had dropped his kunai and mentally curses himself while trying to cause the things grip to loosen. "How does Koumon sound? Or maybe Bousmon?" The monster muses, clearly not bothered by his attempts to get free.

"I believe I'm going to have to go with Tekiimon because you're so hostile towards the idea of humans not being the top beings in the multi-dimension. Tekiimon, it's a pretty good tribute to you, mom." The newly dubbed Tekiimon informs him with a wicked grin.

His vision begins to swim and as his vision goes black, something explodes behind the beast that holding him by his throat. As he falls to the ground, he hears something familiar laughing in a tone that causes the back hairs of his neck to rise up. He coughs and watches as the smoke begins to clear, giving him a clear view of a being wearing a red robe that has a pointed hat with a set of bat like wings.

"My thanks, human, for bringing me these two legendary warriors, I'll be sure to put their power to good use." He stiffens as he realizes just who the being was. Ignoring the fact that certain roles have been reversed as now Daemon holds Tekiimon by the chest plate.

"Darkness and Ice… They're not your's yet!" Tekiimon growls as the much smaller creature begins to glow.

Suddenly he feels numb as the monster that is Tekiimon begins to return to its previous state. –Let's play hide and seek, Daemon!- A strange two tone voice declares and suddenly the surrounding vanish, leaving only darkness and Daemon growling.

Then two some things burst out of his chest. _'You were just their egg, you're useless now.'_ He hears Daemon inform him as something with a mask arrives and drags him away from the shards of his broken body.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Ophanimon's Castle**

He couldn't help but stare in bewilderment as certain changes seem to have occurred as soon as the light fades from surrounding Sasuke. Grademon is already engaging the changed Uchiha as sections of armour featuring eyes cover Sasuke's wrists, waist, and neck like jewellery. He feels Dorumon move cover the golden Digimon as he just stands there in a dumb fashion with a part of him screaming for him to help while another part found this whole thing to be surreal.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices that the three mega Digimon were powering up, which kind of worried him cause he really didn't want to deal with three angry mega level Digimon on a rampage because Sasuke managed to get his hands on one of the Legendary Warrior statues. _'Speaking of statues…'_ He watches as Sasuke falls onto his side after gripping another statue bust, only this time, said statue is still there and is slowly floating towards the three mega Digimon.

He takes a few steps away from the wooden table as more of those statue busts begin to float in the air. "Kind of freaky…" He mutters softly as he feels the hairs on the back of his neck rise up. "Damn impressive though…" He adds until something catches his attention.

He watches as Sasuke manages to capture one of the floating statue busts. Light flares up once more and fades as Sasuke lands on the ground. He's a bit stunned at the sight of Sasuke's hair now being white and vary spiky. As Sasuke passes him, he just jerks to the side as Dorumon's attacks sail after the fleeing preteen.

He watches as a certain Digimon moves to intercept the Uchiha but then something happens that causes Sasuke to fade out from sight. "He opened a dimensional gate…" He hears Grademon says not very from his position.

"But how could he? He's… I mean, I think he's still human… I've yet to come across a dimensional travel jutsu…" He says, glancing from Grademon to Nefertimon.

"He managed to claim the element of Darkness. It would allow him to vanish into the darkness between dimensions." Cherubimon explains as they come out of their combined state that enabled them to cause the remaining statue busts to float towards them.

"Oh…" Dorumon and he chime in within a few seconds of each other. He shares a look with his purple partner and friend, feeling kind of like an idiot by not trying to slash a card through his Digivice. He couldn't help but feel that he could have done more but then, he really didn't want to get in the way of Grademon either.

"He has claimed half of Darkness and Ice. For whatever purpose he has in mind, we can't say…" Seraphimon says and he could only guess that the angel Digimon is frowning.

"You don't think he headed back to our home dimension, do you?" He asks the three, hoping that they could track Sasuke. "I mean, you still have the other halves of the stolen warriors right? That should allow you to find him since from what I recall from the stories I've been told, the human and beast spirits are two sides of the same coin. So they would be drawn to their missing half…"

"Be that as it may, there is also the fact of retrieving them from young Sasuke." Ophanimon admits with a frown and the other two mega Digimon look fairly grim. He's kind of confused as to what the problem is with retrieving said statues from Sasuke but doesn't voice it and so glances first over at Grademon before sharing a questioning glance with his friend and partner.

"Can't we retrieve them for you?" Dorumon asks, finally putting his two cents in as his partner twitches his tail. _'I mean, why drag more people into this if we don't have too?'_ He muses as he couldn't help that things are about to get more complicated.

""Perhaps I should give them a guided tour of the castle?" Nefertimon suggests after a few seconds of silence. He blinks and glances over at the white, winged feline Digimon.

"That might not be such a bad idea." Cherubimon muses thoughtfully and without really knowing how it happened, he soon founded himself and his partner following Nefertimon down the corridor. _'Huh… I wonder what they plan to do now? And when will Dorumon and me leave this world behind?'_ He wonders as he continues to follow the armour level Digimon with Dorumon by his side.

-(V)-

**Frontier Human World**

A cell phone rings and upon being answered, Orphanimon's voice says, "Your assistance is needed in the recovering of half of your spirit. If you wish to help, please come to Shibuya station."

With that said, the call ends and after a few seconds the cell phone is pocketed. _'I wonder what kind of trouble awaits in the Digital world now?'_ Two Digidestine wonder about the same time as they alter there course to head to said station. The two didn't know that not every member of their group has received a call from the mega level Digimon known as Orphanimon.

And so, Tommy and Koichi never thought to phone any of the other members of the group before they arrived in a certain train station that's capable to receiving Trailmon.

- o 0 o -


	15. Chapter 15

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

It had taken them about a month since Naruto, Sasuke, and Dorumon vanished to track down that Fangmon, the one who had tried to save Sasuke. During this journey, Cyberdramon and himself had learnt a bit about Data Streams through practical experience, which helped hinder their ability to track down Fangmon in a timely manner. It's near impossible to pick up a trail when you're on a different plane of the Digital world, especially one that contains a different environment then the previous one.

It helps that the champion Digimon is still covered in some alien Digimon's energy signature. With a little help from Azulongmon, they managed to caught up with said champion, although for the pass week, they've been a bit more interested in observing the leather wearing Digimon then in deleting him. After all, they kind of need Fangmon alive for questioning, which is why he's been fairly busy going through some ratty ninja books concerning about interrogation tactics.

"I wonder why Daemon fetched these old books for Sasuke instead of newer versions..." He wonders, once more concerned about the condition of books and scrolls Sasuke had in his keeping when they found him. "I'll admit that they're in good condition but still..." He adds with a slight frown.

Cyberdramon just grunts, it's not as though he expects his partner to know the answer to that question anyway. _'Likely chose old thinking they'd be full of errors and mistakes.'_ He concludes yet again, after all, Daemon couldn't be expected to be an expert about Naruto's version of a ninja or about that world in particular.

"He's pacing." Cyberdramon finally informs him and after memorizing the page number, he closes the book before climbing up onto the rock to find that Fangmon is indeed pacing back and forth. Fangmon's tail swishes angrily back and forth while Fangmon tossing his head up every so often.

"Almost as if he's talking to someone..." He muses as he rests his chin on his arms. "Do you sense anything?" He asks the ultimate Digimon.

"If he is, the connection isn't using up a lot of energy or causing much of a disturbance." The grey humanoid dragon admits. Cyberdramon flexes his right hand and arm, clearly itching to take down Fangmon and after a few seconds, he decides that now would be a good time to capture the champion Digimon since it's obvious that the Digimon's guard is down and distracted.

"Now is as good a time as any to get him. He's clearly distracted and likely won't put up much of a fight." _'Not that it matters considering you are an Ultimate level Digimon.'_ He adds silently.

Within seconds, Cyberdramon seems to have vanished from his left and is pinning Fangmon in the ground. "That was fast..." He couldn't help but mutter as he heads down towards Fangmon and his partner.

-(V)-

**Fangmon**

He couldn't help but yelp as he finds the side of his face pressed into the sandy ground with a something heavy holding him down. He tries to see who is responsible and shudders. He had come to the conclusion that he was being hunted, he just didn't expect for the other Tamer and his partner to be the ones to catch him.

He had been trying to get a certain mega level Digimon to transfer him out of this dimension, true, it was a risky considering Daemon's only transferred a pair of human children successfully while creating copies of scrolls and books using minor data spheres that he's collected. It had just been easier to copy and then recreate the data on those items then to waste tons of energy to bring them to the Digital world.

Not that he felt the need to inform Sasuke of that little fact, after all, better for the punk kid to think Daemon had unlimited power and could always get him no matter where the punk found himself. Creating an illusion of a leash so the brat would behave.

_'Fat good that did.'_ He mentally thinks as he waits for the Q&A session to commence before they delete him and load his data. He blames the prick for causing such disruptions so early in the 'game'.

_'Given enough time, I could have gotten prepared for whatever was sent after us. If we were lucky, we would have given them a merry chase before confronting the lot.'_ He thinks bitterly to himself. _'This is all that brat's fault, I hope whatever end the punk bring down upon himself, it totally ruins him!'_

"Guess Daemon pretty much plans to leave you to your end, eh?" The brunet Tamer muses once the human is within a few feet of his captor and himself. "I don't suppose you can tell me what Daemon had planned for that Uchiha kid?"

"Like he'd tell me! I was only brought on board to be that punk's guide until Daemon decided he had enough energy to open another portal to send the brat else where." He snaps. "My part in that guy's plans seems to be well and over, thank you oh so much."

"He must have commandeered portal." The Cyberdramon, the Tamer's partner, growls. He hears the Tamer sigh and he tests to see if the Cyberdramon's grip has loosen up any.

"Seems like he doesn't have any more information for us." The partner states and he swallows as well as tenses. He braces himself for what's about to happen next.

The Tamer sigh before saying, "Might as well give him a fighting chance. We might not have gathered much information but he does kind of deserve a chance to at least defend himself."

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

The fight did prove short but he did admit that Fangmon did manage to at least give his all, he's pretty sure that it'll be a while before that small tip area of Cyberdramon's wing grows back, if it capable of growing back that is. Though it'll likely serve as a reminder about underestimating a captured opponent.

_'Now that we're through with that Digimon, what sure we do now? What can we do while waiting for __Hige__ and Dorumon to return?'_ He muses as he sits in the nock of his partner's arm. Pondering what to do now that Fangmon has been deleted and uploaded by Cyberdramon.

"Where to now, Cyberdramon?" He inquires, wondering if the ultimate level Digimon had anything in particular that they should go while in this particular Digital world. "We have quiet a bit of time to kill it would seem." He adds thoughtfully.

His partner doesn't reply, just continues soaring through the skies of the Digital world.

-(V)-

**Tommy Himi**

**Train Station**

"Hey Koichi!" He says on seeing the teen. "How's it going?" He asks as he lets go of the button meant to hold the elevator doors open.

The doors close as the Chosen of Darkness replies, "Going pretty good." Then Koichi says, "I was kind of surprise to receive the message. I can't help but wonder what's wrong."

"Yea, me too. I mean, what do they mean by recovering half of our spirits? It kind of sounds like they got stolen, so why would they need us to help recover them? It's not like the thieves could use them..." He muses with a frown as he recalls their encounter of those shades of Digimon that failed to pass Darkness's test of worth.

_'I wonder if they ever got reborn when the Digital world got recreated?'_ He wonders before the elevator jerks and suddenly speeds up, almost causing Koichi and him to flatten against the top of the elevator. When the elevator finally slows, he lands on the floor with Koichi landing partly on him.

The doors open and as they recover enough to stand, he glances around the underground station expectedly. They exit out of the elevator but still he can't see any of the others. He glances backwards just in time to watch the doors close but the elevator doesn't move, which kind of confuses him before his thoughts go elsewhere.

"I don't think the others are coming." Koichi says and the older Digidestine closes a cell phone. "It's been half an hour, Tommy. If they had gotten the message they would have shown up by now."

He sighs before wondering out loud, "I guess this means that only half of our spirits were stolen then." He couldn't help but feel more then a little disappointed that it seems as though the whole gang won't be together for this new adventure.

"I, too, had been hoping the others would be here if we were ever welcomed to travel back to the Digital world." Koichi says and he smiles weakly at Koichi, nodding in agreement. "We might as well get a board." Koichi adds after walking towards the only train in the station.

He follows suit and once they're in one of the cars, the train becomes alive. Slowly and with a few jerks, the train begins to pull out of the station. The train whistles as the train picks up speed.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Fire Terminal**

"Looks like something is finally approaching." Dorumon says and with a start, he sits up and glances in the direction his partner and friend is looking in. Clutching the package he's been entrusted to give to the new arrives, he gets up off of the floor and squints his eyes in hopes of spotting the Trailmon that's bringing Dorumon and his new travel companions; Koichi and Tommy if his memory serves since Koichi has been chosen by Darkness and Tommy by Ice.

The sound of whistling reaches his ears and after a few seconds, he finally makes out said approaching mechanical Digimon. He sighs softly, more then happy that they'll finally be on their way in following Sasuke's trail out of this world.

As the Trailmon slows down until it comes to a stop. "All aboard going aboard!" The copper armoured Trailmon declares before exhaust smoke covers the platform for a few seconds before fading away.

"Hey, I don't think we saw you get on board..." He turns to find two preteen boys; one of which is shorter and wearing a big orange hat. The other is much older and seems to prefer to wear darker colours.

"Huh? Oh, no, we're just here to hook up with you two. Dorumon and I have been here for little over a month's time." He explains and the two look surprised on hearing that.

"Really? But how did you get to the Digital world to begin with?" The younger asks curiously after sizing up Dorumon before moving to study him.

"It's kind of complicated but originally, we were in a different Digital world before this portal got warped and pulled us into it. Which deposited us here." He explains and the other two just stare, clearly not sure if he's telling the truth.

"Maybe we should give them the package." Dorumon suggests after a few seconds of silence. He glances over at his partner before holding out the package.

"Thanks... I'm Tommy by the way." The shorter preteen with the hat says as he takes the package.

"Naruto and this is my partner Dorumon." He says in way of introduction as Tommy and friend begin to open the box. He watches as they pull out two devices, likely their Digivices, and what appears to be a pocket watch.

"So... What do you mean by partner?" The other preteen asks and he motions for Dorumon to explain while he picks up the watch to examine. He flips it opens and stares down at a screen that seems to have one silvery blue dot and one black dot circling around two different star points.

He tries to press one of the buttons but it refuses to budge. _'I would have to say that it would seem that this device can only be used by the two native chosen.'_ He muses to himself as he glances towards the two.

"Not working?" The older one asks while Tommy continues to ask Dorumon questions about the world they had left Ryo and Cyberdramon behind in. "Also, I'm Koichi."

He grins before handing the watch over. "Maybe you should try using it. I get the feeling it'll work for you guys. After all, this was created in this Digital world." He says and watches as Koichi begins to fiddle with it.

He lets out a breath he unknowingly had been holding as Koichi causes something to happen with the display on the screen. "Maybe..." Koichi mutters softly and within seconds, the one with the black dot seems to glow as if something has clicked said star.

The display changes to show a village that seems to be made out of baby toys. "Looks like you're really are going to have to wear that shirt, _DK_." He mutters to himself with a grin.

"You know where that is?" Koichi asks and he hums. "Is it far?" The preteen asks and he snorts softly.

It didn't take long to show Koichi the DVDs and he couldn't help but chuckle softly. "It's a pretty good series, though I prefer season one." He says as Koichi flips it over and reads the back of box. Koichi just shakes his head after finally giving the two box sets of Digimon over to him, which he puts back into his pack.

"Let's see where the second dot is." Koichi says and he just shrugs, content to watch Koichi fiddle with the buttons to return to the previous map. It takes a few minutes and in those few minutes, he glimpses more of that particular Digital world that's on the screen.

He felt his jaw loosen as Koichi finally brings up the other world. A Digital world that sports the same 'sun' as the world they left DK and his partner Cyberdarmon. "You know this one too?" Koichi asks and he blinks in an owlish manner.

"Should know it, it's the world I hooked up with Dorumon." He explains, his eyes drifting towards his purple furred friend. He frowns as he wonders about which world they'll visit first on this particular quest.

In a way, he's kind of glad he's not one of those that can operate the watch device. It pretty much took the decision out of his hands, though from the look of things. _'Not that it would stop them from asking Dorumon and mine opinion...'_ He admits while Tommy and Dorumon rejoin the conversation.

"So, does it work?" Tommy asks them while Dorumon gives him a look of mild concern before stretching the tiny wings on his back. Koichi lowers the watch to give Tommy a look at the screen, which his partner takes advantage of to give the screen a look.

-(V)-

**Dorumon**

**01/02 Digital World**

_'It's pretty strange to be visiting a world that's been displayed as a cartoon show. I know that Ryo mentioned coming from this world but still... Its one thing to hear about it, its another to visit it.'_ He muses as they rest by a river after spending most of the afternoon walking around, trying to find the spirit's signal on the watch but not having much luck.

_'We could always ask around to see if any of the locals have noticed Sasuke around.'_ He muses as he swishes his tail tip in and out of the water while Naruto's preparing to use a fire jutsu to lit the fire so they can roast some of the stored meat apples Naruto had sealed away in a scroll. Allowing his partner a chance to practice using seals.

"Are you sure that wasn't some kind of magic trick?" Tommy asks for a third time. He privately chuckles as Naruto sighs heavily while Koichi just smiles with amusement oozing out of him.

"Why do you find it so hard to believe that I'm fully capable of using my chakra to perform actions that could cause Digimon to be green with envy?" His blond partner bemoans, which causes him to short softly knowing full well that though Naruto sounds so sincere, it was just an act. "I mean, there are likely tons of different dimensions out there where humans could have learnt different set of skills."

He glances away from the three preteens to look out across the stream. His mind already drifting through different thoughts, particularly what kind of encounter they'll have with the local chosen, particular with Ryo's old friend, Ken Ichijouji. _'I wonder if we'll get a chance to watch the DVDs before we leave this Digital world...'_

"I think I'm going to stick with you can do magic." Tommy decides and he hears Naruto just groan, completing the act in his opinion. "So... What's going to be your next trick?"

"How about creating fire? That good enough trick for you?" Naruto asks in a light tone. "Be prepared to be amazed my friends!" The blond adds and he turns his head just so to watch the preteen often nicknamed _Hige_ go through a jutsu at a very slow pace before taking a sharp intake and breathing out a small stream of fire, causing Tommy and Koichi to gasp in surprise.

"Wow..." Tommy exclaims while looking at Naruto with renewed interest. Naruto just beams at their reactions, clearly preening with the respect they have in their eyes.

_'Not that I can fault him. He's still getting over being attention starved little kid.'_ He muses, he's pretty sure Naruto would have preformed jutsus while they were searching for Sasuke in the Digital world where they met.

_'Although, Naruto had finished reading those newer texts that we librated from Sasuke. I wonder if he set clones to practice the latest jutsus he learnt from said texts?'_ He wonders privately to himself as stretches his tail and shifts position so he can take a nap.

After all, this Digital world had come across as a lot safer then the one he was hatched in. He also didn't feel very sociable at this point in time either and napping allows him escape that obligation. He doubts he's the only partner Digimon to do so and likely won't be the last.

-(V)-

**Daemon**

**Dark Ocean**

"Perhaps not everything is lost." He mutters as he watches the fading images of a party of three human boys and one purple rookie Digimon. Closing his eyes, he feel exhaustion trying to get him to rest.

_'I wonder how hard it would be to corrupt Darkness once more?'_ He muses as he presses more deeply into the stone throne he created on Sasuke's mental landscape collapsing as the Digimon the brat had created within his body finally hatched out of the egg that was Sasuke Uchiha.

- o 0 o -


	16. Chapter 16

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Takuya Kanbara**

**Frontier Real World**

He felt this odd tingle and glances off in the distance, towards a certain subway station. He couldn't help but frown as he felt as though something big had just passed by. He snaps out of it as his younger brother lets out a whoop of joy and he quickly turns to find his younger brother's game avatar doing a victory pose.

"Ah man!" He couldn't help but exclaim.

-(V)-

**Gatomon**

**01/02 Digital World**

_'That doesn't look too good...'_ She thinks while staring up at the sky over a certain village known as Primary Village. A side glance towards her fellow Digimon, Palmon, shows that the rookie, too, didn't like the look of those clouds hanging over such a peaceful place.

"I really hope that's just a storm brewing..." She hears Palmon mutter under her breath while the plant Digimon flexes her hand and fingers. She turns away from her fellow partner Digimon to glance around the forest, wondering if they're really alone.

"Let's get this over with, Palmon. Kari's going to arriving after school to pick me up and I want to be there to meet her." She says with a sigh, it's been about a month since she spent any time with her partner, she privately didn't see why Kari's so worried about these examines since her partner's gotten top marks before and likely knows everything needed to pass with flying colors without studying so much.

"Well, she is in her last year of high school. Even Mimi worried about what University she'll be attending next year." Palmon points out and she couldn't help but find that a bit surprising but didn't let it show.

"What is it about humans and school? I get that they've got a lot to learn but why can't they learn it at their own pace?" She wonders and Palmon just shrugs as they finally begin to walk towards Primary Village.

"I think it's because they grow up so quickly." Palmon admits after a few minutes of walking and she hums, seeing her fellow's point. "After all, there isn't any real set amount of time for a rookie Digimon to automatically Digivolve into a champion. It's different per rookie."

"It's hard to believe they'll be old enough to be parents in a couple of years." She muses as they comes within sight of some of the buildings of Primary Village. Something about seems to cause her fur to stiffen, causing her to become alert and very cautious.

Out of the corner of her eye, she notes that Palmon has paused and seems to be glancing around with narrow eyes. The color around them seems to be faint but still there. Though she could only imagine for how long, particularly as she struggles to recall the last time she's experienced something similar.

Her eyes widen as an old memory concerning the kidnapping of her partner slowly comes to mind. _'But why would the Dark Ocean be acting up now? Is Daemon finally making a move?'_ She wonders, dreading the answer since Daemon was... is a highly unusual Digimon compared to the others they've encountered.

_'He's a Demon Lord, representing the sin that is Wrath. Not sure why we have Digimon representing the human concept of sin and I believe I am better off not knowing too.'_ She decides, she knew humans weren't peaceful creatures and had committed horrors upon each other in their history, horrors that likely eclipsed anything an evil Digimon have ever committed too.

"I hadn't expected to encounter someone like you." A voice that some how echoes about the forest just outside of Primary Village says. The voice had a male quality to it at that. "It seems that instead of meeting the brother I shall meet with the sister."

"How do you know of Tai?" She asks, after all, that's Kari's elder brother. Something drops down from the trees, it takes her a few seconds to realize that this was a very unfamiliar Digimon that seems to be wearing black armor with dusty gold trim.

"Don't know anybody named Tai, little 'niece'. I'm talking about brother, and now sister, Light. As in that which is the opposite of Darkness. For it is Darkness that I represent for that was one of the two elements that were stolen. Not that it means anything to you..." The ruby eyed feline faced Digimon says, not really clearing up any of the confusion going on with either Palmon or herself.

She already wished that villains wouldn't talk, it doesn't do anything but cause confusion among the group. Although, as she studies the taller Digimon before them, she couldn't figure out what level the Digimon was nor its attribute. Something upon her tail seems to be growing warm though.

"Who are you?" Palmon demands and the gray skinned Digimon in black armor glances over to the rookie, ruby eyes studying the rookie with no small amount of interest. "Well?" Palmon snaps after a few seconds, her arms spread wide and her fingers already extending a few inches.

"YamiTekiimon, the Darkness slide evolution of Tekiimon." The armor dressed Digimon answers and then adds with a bit of a smirk, "Son of the human prick, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Sasuke... who?" She couldn't help but wonder and YamiTekiimon just chuckles in such a way that causes a bit of a shiver to move down her spine to the tip of her tail. She really didn't like this Digimon, not at all.

"Don't worry about it, he's served his purpose, not that he was ever expected to survive either way... We highly doubted that Daemon tried to save our 'mother' when we hatched out of him. Most evil Digimon don't care for humans except when they need a more flexible tool." YamiTekiimon says in a off hand kind of way.

"How do you know Daemon?" She demands from this stranger. A stranger that claims to have hatched from a human of all things. _'A very likely story if I ever heard of one.'_ She thinks as she narrows her eyes while digging her heel into the ground.

Her body tensing as she prepares to spring towards the much taller Digimon. Not that YamiTekiimon seems to notice as the gray skinned Digimon with ruby eyes just looks slightly bemused and crosses his arms over his black breast plate. She really didn't like him.

"Did you know that this village seems to be involved in data retrieval and storage? I mean beyond it collecting Digimon data?" The armor wearing Digimon says suddenly, causing her to shake slightly out of her slowly narrowing focus.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" Palmon wonders and she glances over to her fellow partner Digimon.

"That's a surprise." YamiTekiimon states in a very smug way before the Digimon reaches into a pouch that seems to be in the metal sleeve of an arm. YamiTekiimon's hand has a small pile of golden brown dust and as she leaps for him, he blows it right into her face.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

"Since when does it snow in a desert?" He wonders as he shakes off a thin layer of snow that is still clinging to his shirt. His pants were also covered and as he glances over to Cyberdramon, he finds his partner looking off into the distance in what he felt was a thoughtful manner.

"Something that passed through this area caused a minor storm to brew. The storm hid its presence." His partner states and he puts his hands under his arms as he moves to stand next to the Digimon that is his partner.

He whistles at how thin the strip of bare sand that hadn't been covered in snow. He walks over and gets a better look at the strip of desert, thus getting a good look at these slightly huge tracks. He frowns as he gazes from one print to the next and the next. He couldn't help but be impressed that something that large managed to slip pass with Cyberdramon less then a mile away.

"Definitely stealthy." He muses, a bit curious as to what kind of Digimon could cause a snowstorm in a middle of a desert during the middle of the night. "Want to find the Digimon that did this?" He asks his partner after his partner joins him by the tracks, the snow slowly beginning to be overcome by the warming temperature of morning.

He studies his partner for a moment since he kind of expected some kind of sound from the large Digimon. A huff, grunt, something really, but all he got from Cyberdramon was puzzlement. _'Nope, don't see any pigs flying nor do I see a rapture going on either, so what's with him? You'd think he'd be down right eager to go after a Digimon that slipped through his claws, in a manner of speaking.'_ He thinks to himself as he stares at the ultimate Digimon that is his partner.

"Something isn't right..." Was Cyberdramon's only answer and he just stares at the humanoid dragon. He really stares at the ultimate for a good few minutes.

"Ok, who are you and what have you done with my partner?" He finally demands, not convinced that this was really the Digimon he's come to be wary of and determined to control when the battlelust grows to be too much. "I mean, you can't be my Cyberdramon."

The ultimate level Digimon growls softly while the helmet head glares down at him. He takes a few steps away from the winged Digimon, his hands held up in a surrendered manner. "Ok, ok, it's just not like you to not go tearing after an opponent that not only managed to display the power to alter the weather but use it to cover his signature." _'Not that I recall encountering a weather controlling Digimon before, not if you count...''_

"There is something... elemental with this one. As if..." Cyberdramon trails off. He sighs and wonders just what the big deal was, after all, how special could this Digimon be?

-(V)-

**YamiTekiimon**

**01/02 Digital World**

He watches as the two arrivals to the village in a casual manner. Although he's waiting to see any sign that their memories have returned while they toured the village where Digimon eggs are created and hatch into fresh Digimon. He's unsure if the sights and sounds of the village would be enough to jolt them out of their current state of dust induced amnesia.

_'I had only just discovered a way to access the rest of the data storage, not sure if I manage to get the creation process down just yet.'_ He thinks as he considers the fact that he had tried to get the mushrooms of forgetfulness and instead got this golden brown dust, not that he's going to complain since from the look of things, the dust works just as well as the mushrooms are said be.

_'Handier more likely, although if I'm not careful, I might have gotten a face full myself... Maybe I should try again for the mushrooms, at least that way I'll be fairly sure I won't accidentally forget who I am.'_ He decides after a few more minutes of reflection as they finish the tour.

So far, neither had made any sudden movement like a jerk of their head, their body stiffening, or a quick glance to the other with wide eyes. He's not sure if he should be glad that the dust worked or disappointed since he really wanted a chance to test his fighting abilities and the pair had struck him as seasoned fighters. _'Easily distracted fighters, but fighters all the same.'_

"Sorry, but nothing clicked." The Palmon admits and the Gatomon nods in agreement. He sighs and scratches the side of his head, trying to think of another way to test their amnesia. He really didn't believe that anything within the village would click or else he would have heard about them from the Elecmon that had been guarding this village before he tossed the red rookie into that river.

"Maybe you two should try taking in the sights of the rest of the island?" He suggests after a few seconds of debating between keeping the two close or having the pair far from him when their memories come back. "Just because nothing around here didn't do it, doesn't much other then you didn't spend a lot of time around the village." He points out in a helpful manner.

"You could be right..." The light touched Gatomon admits slowly after thinking on that for a few minutes. He glances once more towards the ring upon the white digital cat's tail, wondering how something so holy could have ever felt the touch of something dark and vile, but then, Gatomon had mentioned a boy name Tai, likely meaning that the two were partnered to a pair of humans, children or young teens if the example set by Naruto and Ryo meant anything.

_'Wonder if Naruto has found a means to follow after? I wouldn't put it pass those three megas to have put some kind of tracking programs upon the elemental statues.'_ He muses as he considers what he knows of the blond that had managed to capture his 'mother'. _'Not that it was very hard... The prick did get drunk. How anyone could consider that one a genius is beyond me. The blond at least was smart enough to form a lasting partnership with a member of a superior race.'_

_'Not that Sasuke ever got a chance to really see what that partnership could do...'_ He admits, though he couldn't help but feel a bit envious of a certain purple furred Digimon. From what little Sasuke had seen of Naruto and Dorumon's interactions, it seems as though Dorumon got a mentally healthing, fully functioning human being instead of some insane, emo with self-esteem issues and a superiority complex brat.

"Well, thank you for your help." Palmon says, causing him to come out of his thoughts. He smiles slightly and nods.

"I'm just sorry I couldn't have been a bigger help is all." He states as they bowed to each other. It seems as though the pair has indeed decided to tour the island, giving him some time to plan for their next encounter.

As he watches the two vanish into the forest, his thoughts turned to his 'twin' brother. _'I wonder which world he ended up on? He is the more powerful of us since the stolen half he is bonded to is the beast spirit.'_

Then his stomach growls, reminding him that it is empty. "Sometimes I wonder if it's worth being a Digimon..." He mutters softly as he turns to head for the recreation station to see if he can't create a bowl of soup or some other dish since he is growing tried of eating fish, even if the spirit of Darkness is a touch feline.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

"What are you?" A slightly familiar voice asks and it takes him a few seconds to look upward when scanning around the forest. He blinks at the sight of the white digital cat that's crouching upon a branch of a tree.

"Ah... human..." He manages to say as he takes in the sight of one of the more famous Digimon, one that's partnered to the Chosen of Light, Kari Kamiya. He also felt a twinge of something, after all, just cause he's got a demon inside of him doesn't make him a demon.

_'Though I've never encountered a Digimon that's been able to sense the fox before... Is it because of who her partner is?'_ He wonders, although if that's the case then how long until his two new traveling companions will learn of the fox? The two were bonded to legendary elemental warriors that represent the elemental essence of their Digital world.

"Human?" The white Digimon mutter with a frown. He felt nervous and a bit offended by how Gatomon is reacting.

"What does a human want in this world?" The feline Digimon finally asks after dropping down to the ground and he couldn't help but stare at her in disbelief. _'She didn't just ask that did she?'_

"Well... I'm here chasing a guy named Sasuke Uchiha. The prick stole two sacred statues from this trio of Holy Digimon. Seen him?" He asks, deciding to think of how Gatomon of all Digimon was acting like this. _'Although... does this mean we arrived before the events of season one?'_ He wonders while Gatomon shakes her head.

"Why are you naked?!" Another familiar voice asks in a loud way, causing him to jerk. He glances sharply back towards the camp, wondering what's going on over there.

He sighs as he bolts towards the source, not giving the champion Digimon a glance as he weaves about the trees until he arrives to find Tommy in the clutches of a Palmon as the rookie holds the younger boy up in the air. He glances off to the side to find Tommy's cloths resting by a small bundle of logs that had been gathered for the fire last night.

"There's another one?!" Palmon says once the plant rookie notices his arrival at the bank. He just studies the rookie, not sure what to make of this development.

"You know, you're pretty fast." He hears Gatomon say as Palmon glances between Tommy who's wrapped up in her vine fingers and himself. He doesn't glance over his shoulder to see what state the white champion is in as he's a little more concern with this odd behaviour since he's pretty sure that Mimi's partner should be a Tanemon if they arrived before season one started.

"You found one too Gatomon?" Palmon asks the white cat Digimon. The plant Digimon looking a bit beyond him to look at Gatomon.

"I don't suppose you could please gently, _gently_ mind you, put Tommy down?" He asks Palmon before Gatomon could reply. Tommy seems to relax while the plant rookie seems to frown, as if considering his request.

"Might as well do as he asks." Gatomon says and Palmon finally does put Tommy down in the river. Tommy shivers a bit while walking away from the rookie, he watches Palmon intensely, wondering just what is wrong with the pair as Palmon moves to the bank.

"And they are?" Palmon asks Gatomon as the plant rookie keeps an eye on him. "And is that armor he's wearing?" The rookie Digimon wonders.

"Beats me." Gatomon admits and he sighs. "I do know they're called humans." The white champion Digimon adds.

"But he called that one," Palmon points first at him and then waves over to Tommy, "Tommy. So does that mean that the small one is Tommy and that one is Human?"

"Human is what our general species is; Tommy is his name. A personal ID." He decides to clarify. "My personal ID is Naruto."

The native two Digimon's eyes light up in understanding. "So then, is that armor you're wearing?" Palmon asks once more.

"Not really, it's just cloths. As you've seen with Tommy, we don't have a thick pelt of fur covering our body so we wear cloths to help keep our bodies a bit warmer then if we walked around naked." He explains and the two just kind of oh at that.

"Well, that explains why didn't look like YamiTekiimon's armor..." Palmon muses and he frowns, he never heard of a Digimon like that. _'Yami means Darkness, Tekii means animosity, and, of course, mon means monster. Not a very reassuring sounding Digimon. Sounds hate filled.'_ He muses to himself while deciding to glance away from the two Digimon and see what has become of Tommy.

- o 0 o -


	17. Chapter 17

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Kari Kamiya**

**01/02 Digital World**

"I wonder where she is... She's usually here to welcome me when I arrive." She says with a concerned look upon her face as she looks around the forested area where the TV is positioned.

"Maybe she found a fish she couldn't help but finish." Yolei suggests after letting go of her own partner, Hawkmon. "I'm sure she's on her way now." Yolei adds in support, trying to lift their mood.

"I believe Gennai sent Gatomon and Palmon to File Island to check on Primary Village. Something had landed close to it sometime ago." The primary red colour rookie informs them. "They left early this morning."

"I guess I'm going to File Island just to see if she's safe." She decides after she finishes scanning the area for what seems to be the hundredth time since they ported into the Digital world and Gatomon wasn't waiting for them along side of Hawkmon. Worry slowly eating away at her from the inside out at the thought of something happening to Gatomon, keeping her partner from meeting with them.

She bites her lower lip lightly as she now tries to think of how to get to File Island. She turns to stare at the screen with her Digivice in hand and finally holds the gadget to the screen, causing the Digi-Port to open, causing her to arrive in her room. It takes a few minutes to change the location of the Digi-Port before re-entering the Digital world.

She raises her Digivice when it begins to beep and spies a map that shows at least three signals. She suddenly is fearful that something dreadful has happened and jogs off into the direction of three signals, hoping that everything was under control. _'Please be fine, please be ok, I don't know what I'd do if something happens to you, Gatomon.'_ She thinks to herself.

Heart in her mouth, she arrives by a bank to find three young Chosen sitting around a campfire. The first thing she notices is that both Gatomon and Palmon were fine, that there's this strange purple furred Digimon whom head is resting upon the lap of a bright haired blond, and then the three humans.

"Ah... Hi?" The blond says in a highly unsure tone. The large rookie lefts its head from the blond's lap, allowing the blond to stand up. "Name's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'm Kari Kamiya." She says in turn after a few seconds. She found it to be fairly odd that Gatomon hadn't come to greet her though.

"I'm Koichi Kimura and this is Tommy Himi." The black haired boy says in way of introduction. The one with the hat, Tommy, smiles in a shy manner and waves.

"I'm Dorumon, Naruto's partner." The unusual purple Digimon says. The newly dubbed Dorumon seems to wince over as Gatomon and Palmon remain seated.

And then Gatomon introduces herself and Palmon. Something that causes her to stare at the two for a few seconds before staring at Naruto, at this moment, she found she has lost her voice. Naruto gives her a pitying look before saying, "Gatomon and Palmon are currently trying to rediscover themselves."

"Is that a polite way of say we got amnesia?" Palmon asks the blond curiously. Naruto sighs but nods a yes while Gatomon seems to dismiss the conversation to check to see if the fish were done.

Naruto moves to help keep her from falling down as she suddenly feels extremely light-head. Before she knows it, she's sitting by the fire with Tommy offering her a fish. She smiles weakly as she blinks rapidly to try and keep herself from tearing up.

She could only guess at how this has happened and couldn't help but mentally beat herself up for not just picking Gatomon up this morning before going to school.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

He watches with concern the young woman who introduced herself as Kari Kamiya. While he hadn't known what to expect if they had a run in with the local group, he had to admit he hadn't expected them to be older then Ryo. The woman hasn't asked any questions as of yet but he's pretty sure there will be, it's just a manner of time.

While he's focused on Kari's current well being, he does try to keep an eye on the two native Digimon. He could only hope one of the others have noticed any changes in either, though he privately hopes its more in Gatomon then Palmon for Kari's sake.

Although he doesn't have much of an appetite at the moment, he does manage to eat at least two of the fish. _'I wonder if we're going to have more showing up once Kari messages her friends? We were going to return to Primary Village to speak with this YamiTekiimon that's occupying it later tonight.'_ He muses to himself.

"Where did it happen?" Kari asks, finally finding her voice since Gatomon decided to introduce Palmon and herself to Kari. "Hawkmon mentioned Primary Village..."

"We were going to visit the village later to speak with a YamiTekiimon in hopes of learning more about it." Koichi informs Kari. "Did you want to leave a message or something before coming with us?"

"I think I'll e-mail the others. I'm pretty sure Mimi will want to hear about this..." Kari says as she brushes a few strands of hair behind her ear. "That reminds me, where are you're partners?" Kari asks after a few seconds, glancing over to Koichi and Tommy.

"We don't have partners in the traditional sense as you know it." Koichi admits and Tommy nods. "One could say we're here to help recover half of our partners too." Tommy adds and he nods in agreement with that.

He smiles at how they deflected that question, although not very well considering Kari doesn't looks very satisfied with the answers they've offered. "What kind of monster steals half of a Digimon's data?" The red hazel eyed young woman asks with a hint of frost in her tone.

He winces at her wording but couldn't argue with the fact that the Uchiha that they're chasing couldn't be anything but. _'I'm so not going to inform her of Sasuke's __**habits**__ in regards to why he fights Digimon... Not until we find him still indulging in said __habits__..'_ He thinks to himself as he turns to stare into the campfire.

"Other then Naruto and Dorumon, we haven't met the guy." Tommy explains. He feels Kari staring first over to Dorumon and then at him.

"We're tracking a guy my age named Sasuke Uchiha. He's got black hair done up in a duck butt style, supposedly 'dreamy' eyes, and pale skin." He says as he turns to stare into Kari's face. "I use to go to school with him before I moved. He's really messed up in the head, we've captured him twice before but due to odd circumstances, he keeps getting away."

"We're charged by Azulongmon to capture him and take him before the Sovereigns, but a dimensional gate opened up and we found ourselves in a different Digital world." Dorumon explains. "We captured him again but this time we were approached by a Grademon and asked to bring him before Three Celestial Digimon. We did so and this time, he managed to grab a hold of two powerful artefacts that Koichi and Tommy had welded and once more, escapes through a dimensional gate."

"And now you think he's here." Kari says in a flat tone and he nods. He glances over at Koichi and soon, the welder of Darkness takes out the dimensional device.

"We were given this to track the two spirit halfs that were stolen. One is here while the other is currently in a different dimension." Koichi says and Kari leans in to get a better look at the screen.

"You said spirits and Dorumon says artefacts..." Kari says. "These spirits... are they your partners?" The young woman asks.

"Yea, they are. You see, when we have them, we're capable to transforming into Digimon. You see there are ten elements and for each element there is a human and beast artefact." Tommy explains.

"The ten elements are fire, water, ice, earth, metal, wind, lightning, wood, light, and darkness." Koichi picks up. "These spirit Digimon are more commonly known as the Ten Legendary Warriors. My element is darkness and the half that was stolen was my human spirit."

"I was chosen by ice and it was my beast spirit that was taken." Tommy says and he could tell that Kari's glancing between Tommy and Koichi, clearly not really sure if she should believe them or not. "We know that Koichi's half is here in this world while mine is from where Naruto and Dorumon hails from."

"This is pretty overwhelming..." Kari admits and he grins slightly at that. "Izzy is going to have a field day with you guys." The Chosen of Light says with a sigh.

"Then maybe we shouldn't mention Ryo..." Dorumon says in an innocent way and he gives his partner a minor glare at mentioning their fellow friend and his fellow Digimon Tamer. _'Talk about clearing the air...'_ He couldn't help but grumble to himself.

"Ryo's alive?" Kari asks in shock and he really wonders if it was worth chasing after that bastard Uchiha. _'Oh wait, it's because I'm the only other dimensioning hopping guy who's capable to using chakra.'_

_'This is going to take a while...'_ He muses to himself with a sigh.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

"Is it me or are these foot prints getting larger?" He wonders out loud as he holds his hands under his armpits to warm them up. They entered into the snowstorm about two hours ago and they've been sticking to the only stretch of ground that isn't covered in snow.

"This trail is getting wider as well." Cyberdramon adds. "The atmosphere seems to be becoming affected. This storm... it's growing." The ultimate level vaccine Digimon adds after a few more minutes of travel.

"I've noticed that the snow seems to be piling up..." He admits and then says, "I wish I had some snow gear now. I might not be trudging through the snow but that doesn't stop me from feeling the chill in the air."

Suddenly, something drops upon his head and he hears soft chiming, signally that a Digi-Gnome was within hearing range of his wish and granted it. _'Pretty handy, although I wonder if they're concerned with this snowstorm? This isn't a natural occurrence after all...'_

Pausing to bundle up, he also took a look at his Digivice and sighs. He had hoped they'd at least catch a glimpse of this Digimon before nightfall but it seems not to be. "We'll keep going for a little more, Cyberdramon, and then we'll call it a night." He tells his partner Digimon as he begins to continue to walk down the uncovered strip of land.

The metal helmet wearing Digimon just grunts before following after.

-(V)-

**Azulongmon**

"This is unacceptable! We should put a stop to this unnatural creation before it causes the rest of this world to become any more unbalanced!" Zhuqiaomon shouts within minutes of the last of their fellow Sovereigns arrive to discuss the newly arrived Digimon.

"It's not totally unnatural, Zhuqiaomon." One of the heads of the turtle Sovereign known as Ebonwumon remarks. "Part of _him_ is of the element of ice." The second points out. "Which is part of the nature of our world." The first speaking head sums up.

"It reeks too much of _human_ to be anything but unnatural!" Snaps the fire bird Digimon. "The elemental half is from a _foreign_ world as well. Therefore not a natural part of this one!" The mega level bird shaped Digimon adds.

"All Digimon 'reek' of humans, Ahuqiaomon. Humans did created us and our fate is the same as theirs when it comes down to it." He replies calmly, very much used to Zhuqiaomon's fiery temper. "I will give you that the half spirit he carries isn't native to this world and should be returned to it."

"Agreed, though the problem is we're becoming stretched as we are trying to keep the storm contained. It doesn't help that our efforts only seem to be feeding this Digimon in question." Baihumon says while the tiger like Digimon's tail moves up and down about Baihumon's feet.

"Whatever happened to those pair of Tamers we sent after that human?" One of Ebonwumon's heads wonders. "Did both vanish into that dimensional gate?" The second head asks and the two heads glance at them in turn.

"Ryo and his partner Cyberdramon have been spotted going between planes." Zhuqiaomon answers. "No sign of the blond or that X-Antibody pet of his." The fiery bird practically spats, clearly disguised that one of those have cropped up in one of the four worlds in which they 'reign' over.

Not that he liked that their safeguards proved ineffective in keeping one of the more pure strains of the X-Antibodies from achieving the right form any more then Zhuqiaomon. _'The Dorumon must have been with Naruto as an in-training Digimon before Digivolving into a rookie. That's the only way I can think of in how he managed to achieve that form.'_ He thinks with a soft sigh.

"Well then, who among us should contact Ryo? I doubt he'd be happy to see..." He trails off. They had done what was needed to keep Millenniummon from destroying what they have sworn to protect.

Sadly, it seemed that their actions had caused Ryo to develop trust issues. It did cause him to wonder just what it was that caused Ryo to befriend the dimensionally displaced blond but he could only hope that having Naruto and his partner vanish hasn't reopened old injuries. They wouldn't know what to do if Ryo decided to aid Millenniummon's attempts are domination...

"I might as well. I was the one who called Ryo and them here in the first place." He finally says after a long pause.

"Good luck with that, laddie." One of Ebonwumon's heads says. "You'll need it." The other adds as the giant turtle vanishes.

"Agreed." Baihumon says before vanishing while Zhuqiaomon vanishes without a word to him.

"I wonder... does he still carry his D-Terminal?" He wonders as he, too, vanishes from the meeting chamber, returning to his crystal palace.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**01/02 Digital World**

He places the earphones for his MP3 and couldn't help but feel pleased that it works when he presses the play button on it. _'I almost forgot they packed this for me.'_ He thinks to himself as he then glances to where Izzy and Joe are examining Gatomon and Palmon while more then a few nervous Digidestine look on, some gripping their partners a little too tightly as well, although not too hard or else the Digimon would complain.

"It works?" Dorumon asks him after nudging him a few time in the shoulder and only after he takes one of them out of his ear. He gives his partner a sheepish, guilty look as he nods.

"Want to listen?" He asks his purple coloured partner. He makes sure to turn down the volume on the MP3 player as well, knowing that Dorumon doesn't like having the music blaring at the volumes he usually has it.

"Not now but I think something more interesting is 'blooming' between Koichi and Ken." Dorumon informs him and he couldn't help but be puzzled by that until he glances around in search of said mentioned Chosen.

"That's not good..." He mutters softly as he watches Ken rubbing his neck while Koichi stares at Ken, a young man who's partner is currently perched on the left shoulder. It's clear that Koichi is doing something since his fellow dimensional traveler rarely blinks.

Just watching Koichi for more then a few seconds causes him to develop goose bumps. A few minutes later, he swears colour around Koichi seems to fade away, causing Koichi to appear more pale looking then he's suppose to. Shaking his head, he gets up and silently moves to be behind Koichi.

"Something wrong, Koichi?" He asks just loud enough for Koichi to hear. He relaxes as Koichi jerks before snapping his head around to look up at him.

"Wrong?" Koichi parrots back after realizing he had asked him something. He nods while studying the chosen of darkness, although he's not sure what he's looking for but he's glad he hadn't found it within Koichi's eyes.

"You were staring and I think causing Ken some discomfort." He tells Koichi. "Just wondering if you find something interesting about Ken." He adds.

"There's... I don't know what but it's there..." Koichi says, clearly not wanting to talk about this. "Could we leave it be?" Koichi asks hopefully.

"I know what's lodged in Ken's neck and so does most of the group." He tells Koichi as he moves to sit next to the boy. "It's not exactly a secret since DK told me that Ken got it while saving him from having it enter into him." He adds.

"What is it then?" Koichi asks him, it seems that Koichi has become a bit stressed by being within range of the Dark Spore, a 'seed' that Millenniummon left behind. He could only wonder about why it's effecting Koichi at all since, to his knowledge, it's not active.

"It's called a Dark Spore. It's something that causes negative emotions to bloom within the 'host'. It also increases physical prowess and intellect." He tells Koichi. "The Digimon that it originate from was... is... might be again..." He trails off for a moment before saying, "Millenniummon."

"Millenniummon." Koichi says under his breath. "This Millenniummon, is he still around?" Koichi asks.

He frowns as he glances into the bonfire, trying to think up an answer to that question. "I'm not an expert on Millenniummon. The only ones I can think of are the Digimon Sovereigns and my friend Ryo, who I like to call DK." He says to his current traveling companion.

"Ryo... he was a friend of theirs?" Koichi asks, inclining his head towards the native group plus Tommy. "They seemed to have mixed feelings when he's mentioned."

"Ryo originated from these two connected worlds. Things got pretty overwhelming, so much so that I take it when Ryo was asked if he wanted to return, he chose not to. I only know Ryo's take on the events, though I'm pretty sure they'd be willing to tell their take." He says before adding, "Ken though... Ryo and Ken seemed to have been rather close before Ryo vanished."

"You think Ken wants to come along to at least see Ryo when we leave this world behind?" Koichi asks him, clearly voicing half-formed thoughts swimming about within his head.

"Don't know. All I know is I won a bet with Ryo and I plan to at least get something, a few pictures, to give to him." He says before adding, "Though I kind of wish now I had some pictures to give to Ken to show that Ryo's ok..."

"Anyway, you want to listen? I'm pretty sure that we're going to be a while before they're prepared to leave." He says, holding up a newly wiped earphone.

Koichi blinks before shrugging. "Why not, it's not as though I have anything better to do."

- o 0 o -


	18. Chapter 18

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Gatomon**

**01/02 Digital World**

_'This is going to take some getting use to.'_ She thinks as she walks at the head of the group who want to interview YamiTekiimon about Palmon and her memory loss. To her left walks her partner, a young woman named Kari Kamiya.

Not every member of the Digidestine were with them, even Palmon herself wasn't with them as Izzy wants to try a few things in hopes of reconnecting sections of memory within Palmon's body. Izzy believe that their memories are still within them, only the connections with them have been unhooked. She really didn't like the thought that he's capable of manipulating their data and couldn't help but wonder if Izzy has done something like that before.

Just thinking about it causes her fur to prick up. _'Not exactly a happy thought.'_ She thinks to herself. _'I wonder if Palmon's thoughts run parallel of my own?'_

"How long has those clouds been hanging around this part of the woods?" She hears Koichi, one of the dimensional travelers, wonder out loud. She didn't say anything since she, obviously, couldn't recall the answer.

"It kind of reminds me of the Continent of Darkness where we encountered you, Koichi." Tommy, another dimensional traveler, remarks. _'Does this mean that Koichi and Tommy are recent acquaintances?'_

"At least it lacks the sinister feeling of the Dark Ocean." Patamon, partner to TK, says. "It was so bad that it seem to sap the colour from everything that entered into it." The orange rookie adds.

"That lighthouse's light was worst. It was totally black, darkening everything while it rotated around." Kari points out, causing her to wonder if she had been with the human while visiting this place, this Dark Ocean.

"And I thought just experiencing that crossover in Ken's base was bad. How come you guys never mentioned this lighthouse before?" Davis asks with Veemon agreeing with the goggle wearing young man in blue cloths.

"Didn't we mention that it was a Control Spire?" TK asks. "Then there were those things that appeared as Divermon..." The dirty blond young man remarks.

"I wonder if they ever got rid of those Dark Spirals on their arms..." Kari wonders thoughtfully. "But then they might have been fakes, a tactic to lure me there. And it worked too."

"I guess it was something you had to be there to experience." Tai sums up. "Kind of like the training Piximon had Agumon and I do after I had caused Agumon to Digivolve into SkullGreymon."

"I still remember how he made us do chores. Remember racing around with those sponges TK?" Patamon says.

"Yea. Then during the night Matt and Izzy vanished to go get their crests out of that well." TK muses.

"Yea, I remember that. Sora and Mimi then suggested that I would be the next one to disappear." Joe adds in a wistful kind of way.

"I wonder whatever happened to Pximon? Did he escape getting captured simply because he set up that barrier in the desert? Or did he switch locations?" Matt wonders.

It seems that none of the Digimon knew what happened to Piximon either, although surprisingly, the thought of some of these humans doing chores for a Digimon did calm her suspicions. She also couldn't help but ask, "Were Kari and I with you while you were doing chores?"

"Actually, Kari and you didn't join the group until after we had returned to the real world. Kari had missed camp because she had developed a minor fever." Tai answers and she glances sideways over to her partner.

"It's been a pretty long time since we really discussed our first adventures. It's kind of hard to recall everything we went through perfectly, after all, it happened close to a decade ago." Matt admits.

"You know, it would have been great if Gennai or somebody had documented our adventures so we could look back on it be it the good times or bad ones." Joe muses. "I mean, wasn't there some movie companies trying to buy the rights to our stories once?" The oldest member of the group wonders.

"Yea but interest waned as people wanted to forget about it." Tai points out. "I still kind of recall how my parents dealt with those news hounds that tried to interview Kari and I."

"Mom called up a lawyer the very next day. Though it likely helped that both of our parents were part of the news scene, so we weren't bothered by them." TK recalls.

"It took a while before my parents finally called in a lawyer. I think it was around the time I stayed up for a total of five days." Joe admits.

"Weren't you also preparing for some kind of test during that time?" Matt asks. "No offence Joe but you were a bit of a nervous wreck back then when it came to school."

"I still can't believe you went to summer school." Tai reflects.

The conversation kind of dies down as they finally get within view of the buildings of Primary Village. She could only guess at what's going on in the heads of the humans of the group, although it likely revolves around their past. _'I wonder what kind of adventures I had before I hooked up with Kari?'_

"Naruto, I smell _his_ scent, though it's very faint." Dorumon suddenly says. She pauses to glance over to her right to look at the purple dragon like rookie Digimon, the Digimon seems to have his nose a few inches from the ground.

"How fresh?" The bright haired blond asks the fairly large rookie. Something about the boy bespoke of something tensing up to pounce.

"Hard to tell. Another scent is overpowering it." Dorumon answers and Naruto just frowns.

_'They're both tense... Like they're gearing up for a fight.'_ She observes, only now noting that she's not the only one staring over at the pair of dimensional travelers.

"You mean the guy that stole Koichi's and my spirit halves?" Tommy asks, reminding her why the two weren't accompanied by partner Digimon. "But if he's here, then why isn't my spirit half here too?"

"We can ask him when we find him." Naruto sums up as the blond looks off into the direction of the upcoming buildings. She glances away from the bright haired human to glance around the clearing to see if she remembers being here.

"We should split up since we'll cover more ground that way." Tai suggests and she glances to the brother of her partner. "Pair up before I pair you up." The guy with gravity defying hair adds.

Davis moves to stand with Tai before Matt could, if she's any judge. Tommy moves to stand with Koichi just as Joe moves to stand next to Matt. Cody seems to glance between TK, Kari, and Naruto before moving to stand with TK when Kari moves to stand with Naruto, which kind of causes her to breath a sigh of relief since, at this point in time, she knows Naruto and the dimensional travelers better then the group she's apparently been a part of for years and years.

With that, they all silently take off in different directions. "I would have thought you'd have preferred their company to Dorumon's and mine." Naruto admits after a while.

"I have to agree with Naruto on this one. I mean, you could have picked TK. Cody seemed to expect you to." She admits as they walk with Dorumon taking point as she's not really incline to take the lead.

"She could have a thing for blonds." Dorumon pipes in before Kari could form a reply. She couldn't help but snort in amusement while Naruto says Dorumon in a sharp tone.

"Well, to answer your questions, I find it interesting that you two are the sole representatives from your world. You also seem to have some kind of beef with this mystery guy." Kari admits.

"Well, for being the representatives of our world, the only other Tamer I know is Ryo and his partner Cyberdramon. Those Digimon that show up in the real world... Well, they're kind of destructive and well, my uncle's a member of this group who's charged with trying to keep Digimon from entering into the real world. If they can't stop them before they crossover, Ryo and I tend to be expected to deal with them." Naruto explains.

"So there really isn't like there's a real group of kids where we're from that are partnered with a Digimon. If Ryo's still in the Digital world then... Huh, never thought of that one." The blond trails off with a slight frown upon his face.

Then the blond shakes his head, clearly deciding to push those thoughts out of his mind for now. "Anyway, as to Sasuke. He's a monster and I shudder to think of how long he's been visiting Primary Village. I'm not even sure what we'll do even when we catch him... Everything is just so... so... screwy with him its so unreal."

"We say Ken was a monster once upon a time." Kari says and the two short of barked out a laugh for a few seconds before stopping. She frowns, trying not to ask what Kari means by that.

"It was a faint scent, Hige. For all we know, whoever has this half of the spirit of Darkness could only have the hint of Sasuke's scent because Sasuke had possessed this half. If he was around, his scent would have been stronger then what I smelled recently." Dorumon says and Naruto gives the purple Digimon a startled look before slowly nodding.

"Well, I should trust your nose to know, shouldn't I?" Naruto muses before adding, "And don't call me Hige!"

"But it fits you like a T." She admits and Naruto just groans. The boy's arms get thrown up in the air.

"Oh come on! Only DK has any right to call me Hige, well, maybe Dorumon does too considering he's also my best friend." The blond admits with arms cross over his chest.

"And you're my best friend too, Hige." Dorumon replies sincerely and Naruto blushes, clearly embarrassed by the sentiment.

She notices Kari looking a bit sad at the display. "How long have you two been partners?" Kari asks the pair.

"That's kind of... well, a hard story to swallow but I was getting chased by Tortomon when Naruto showed up. I was only a Dorimon at that point." Dorumon explains and Naruto smiles softly at memory.

"I saw this huge plume of dust and decided to investigate. It was kind of sad that this huge Digimon was chasing after this little purple fuzzball. All that work and for what? A bit of data?" Naruto says, shaking his head.

"Of course there was a Golemon there too or have you grown so old that you've forgotten that tiny detail." Dorumon says in a bemused sort of way. A grin fixated upon the Digimon's muzzle.

"Hey! I saved your furry tail that day or have you forgotten that? I slid under that turtle to get you, you know!" The blond reminds the rookie.

"Oh how can I forget? I was in your arms when you leap over a whole Tortomon's back! And then racing towards the valley's side, slipping only to slide down the last part! You were the most insane being I met at that time!" The purple rookie says and Naruto chuckles in a nervous fashion.

"Yea, that last bit was tricky." Naruto admits. "But hey, we're here today because of my awesome skills."

"Considering you did out run two champion Digimon, I can't really argue with that." Dorumon says and Naruto just beams. "Still can't believe you were in the Digital world for a good two months without a partner to defend you."

"I had a village of Gotsumon as neighbours. It's not as though I had to worry about being lonely." The blond reminds the purple rookie. "If any Digimon were going to enter the valley, they were after the villagers, not me." Naruto adds.

"So you realized you were partner then and there?" Kari asks and the two were suddenly reminded that they weren't alone.

"Well, not really. Night came and Dorumon, at that time Dorimon, decided to spent the night instead of risking the valley." Naruto explains. "Come morning, the little Dorimon had transformed to become a Dorumon."

"We then kind of spent some more time together next to a river." Dorumon admits. "I have to admit, seeing him fish was something. Still is actually."

"It was after breakfast did we finally decide we didn't object to the idea of being partnered with the other. It's then that this," Naruto holds up his red and grey trimmed Digivice, "Showed up."

"Been together since." Dorumon adds and Naruto grins while nodding. "He's become like a brother to me." The purple Digimon adds and Naruto says, "Dido."

Silence reigns for a few minutes and they finally began moving once more, although now she's got a lot to think about and a minor ach in her chest as she realizes that maybe it would be worth letting Izzy mess with her data if it means remembering her partnership to Kari Kamiya.

-(V)-

**YamiTekiimon**

He glances away as the group pair off to investigate the village above his location. He tries not to let it the sight of Koichi bother him even though the chained consciousness of the elemental spirit within struggles against the chains, trying to touch the power core to send a message to the boy about what he's planning on doing. The shadows increase for a few seconds until the trapped consciousness finally stops.

It's oh so tempting to consider trying to retrieve the other of Darkness from Koichi but the few free floating memories that weren't locked down by Loweemon. The memories of the group encountering those Digimon that failed to bond with the spirits of Darkness. He's not willing to push his luck, he's content to contain a half of said warrior.

_'Besides, I only need to hook up with my 'brother' and I'll be whole once more.'_ He thinks, the feeling of missing a part of himself causes him to feel pained. It's likely the reason why he felt Koichi's approach so keenly as well since he himself isn't the only thing that is only a part of a greater whole.

"Well, the least I can do for 'Lord' Daemon for causing this situation is to pay him in kind." He grins as he stares down at the computer console. He presses the enter button and watches as the keyboard light up.

Soon the hum of the ancient machine slowly increases until it _purrs_. He then moves to sit down upon the couch that has a coffee table that sports various snack items and drinks. A touch of a button and a screen comes floating out of the floor, another touch of a button upon the device upon his wrist and the screen gives him an aerial view of the village above.

"Let's see how they'll react when the old defences come online." He says as the screen slowly begins to rotate through various camera angles. "This should keep them busy while _it's_ getting created."

-(V)-

**TK Takaishi**

"I wonder whatever happened to Elecmon? I know some ended up serving under Ken during his dark period but I thought Elecmon would have returned to Primary Village afterwards." He wonders as he stands in a familiar field of eggs and a few feet away were brown stone cribs that contain sleeping fresh Digimon.

"Oh yea, I remember him. Didn't he mention something about all of this being ours one day?" Patamon wonders as the orange rookie moves to land before an egg.

"I seem to recall a match of tug-a-war between you two before he mentioned something along those lines." He agree, he felt a bit ashamed for not visiting Elecmon before. _'We've been so busy with our lives that we've forgotten to come visit old friends in here...'_

"We didn't encounter this field when we were here some years ago. When we came to fix this place up." Armadillomon remarks while sitting up right with an egg in his digging claws.

"Didn't we play soccer in this field?" Cody muses as the youngest member of the second group glances around in a thoughtful manner. "It's kind of hard to tell."

He hums softly as he glances around the egg field before he picks up a triangle spotted egg. He smiles softly as he gently rubs the egg. A few seconds later the sound of 'puff' rings out and suddenly there's a Poyomon in his hands while a stone brown crib is revealed from another puff of smoke.

He bends down and the newly hatched Digimon hops down into the crib. He smiles down at the little white Digimon as the little guy begins to hop up and down while giggling. _'If only human kids were that easy to bring into the world.'_ He muses.

"How'd you do that?!" The yellow rookie asks. He glances over to Armadillomon as Cody's partner stares over in his direction.

"Rub the egg gently and it'll hatch." He instructs and Armadillomon rubs the egg. Within seconds, a puff of smoke causing the armour rookie to leap back in surprise.

"Ah, isn't he cute?" Armadillomon says upon looking into the crib. Cody moves over to the crib and bends down to see what kind of Digimon hatched from the egg Armadillomon. "Who knew it was so easy to hatch a Digimon egg?" The yellow rookie muses.

He glances down at the Poyomon that he had hatched when the little Digimon began to whimper. "Hungry, huh?" He muses and it takes him a few seconds to take out his pack of gum.

The little white Digimon looks at the unwrapped stick of gum with interest. "Here you go. Sorry I don't have anything filling on me." He says to the little Digimon before the little Poyomon hops up to take the tip of the stick.

As the freshly hatched Digimon chews on the stick of gum, he stands up and moves to give a stick to the one Armadillomon had hatched. He finds a Botamon in the crib who's just beginning to whimper. The little black fresh Digimon takes it without much prompting.

Suddenly, an echo of a blast seems to roll over them, followed by a blast of air. As the wind settles down, he glances over the tree line until spotting a plume of smoke raising up into the air. "Patamon."

"On it, Tk!" His partner and faithful friend says. "Patamon Armour Digivolve to...!"

- o 0 o -


	19. Chapter 19

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Tai Kamiya**

**01/02 Digital World**

Greymon lowers his metal helmet down as some kind of rock and plant hybrid's beam of energy explodes upon contacting the metal helmet of the ground bound champion Digimon that had previously been Agumon. He watches as the smoke clears to find that Greymon had been pushed back at least a mile from the previous position that his partner had taken.

ExVeemon choices that moment to ram into the thing's back. The newly activated thing doesn't move an inch upon taking the full brunt of the flying champion's attempt at ramming into it. He watches as the 'head' of the rock and plant thing turns to face its back. ExVeemon launches himself from the thing's back before the head is fully facing behind itself.

"That should have worked! What is this thing?" He hears Davis shout some meters away, likely from behind some still standing trees.

The initial first attack had caused Davis and Veemon to become separate from Agumon and himself. The thing had, at that time, been only six feet in height when it came out of the ground, the trees broke apart and their particles were absorbed by the thing before the thing caused them all to be thrown back a few meters.

By the time Agumon had become Greymon, the thing had ground to tower at least five feet over Greymon. The thing had also taken on a greenish tint about its body with brown being used to form rings about the ankles and wrists of the thing with six brown dots upon one side of the thing's head, likely acting as the thing's eyes.

"Davis! Where are you?" He shouts as the thing's arms shift to attack ExVeemon.

Greymon seems to be recovering from the blast. He glances to his partner as the large dino looking champion seems to be using a tip of a claw on the side of his head. _'Must have that ringing in his ears.'_ He distractingly observes as he walks in the direction he thought he heard Davis' voice.

"Tai?" Davis asks as ExVeemon raises higher into the sky, escaping the fired ball of crimson energy. Much different then the simple black beam of energy that it had fired at Greymon just seconds ago.

"Over here!" He says before falling as the tree he had been climbing over suddenly breaks apart into data particles. He glances around to find more particles flying through the air, all moving right to the hybrid thing of rock and tree. The forest suddenly seems thinner as all of the fallen trees or still standing trees seem to be absorbed into the enemy.

"Crap..." He says as the thing under goes a change. Three sets of brown horns seem to grow out of the head while the arms suddenly sprout a second set of arms at the elbow. This new arm sports two thin grey 'fingers'.

The first set of 'hands' are held before the back that is now the chest. He can't see what is happening as the 'shoulder' is blocking his view. He glances away enemy to find Davis looking right up at the thing as the enemy gets ready to launch an attack at ExVeemon.

Suddenly blue energy hits the thing's side while Greymon fires off an attack. "Garurumon!" He couldn't help but shout in relief as he couldn't help but feel as though something was missing during this battle. _'Good old Matt!'_

"Birdramon too!" Davis points out and sure enough, he finds Sora's partner in the air, opposite of ExVeemon. "Freaky how it transformed like that, huh?" Davis adds.

"I'm more worried about the landscape... How long until that thing begins to absorb the very ground that we are walk on?" He couldn't help but point out and Davis gives him a startled look.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

He felt highly impatient about how fast they are moving but bite the inside of his mouth to keep from saying something about how slow or how loud Kari is running. He knows that Gatomon seems to find their pace to be too slow for her taste as Gatomon's tail moves back and forth in annoyance. Gatomon's ears flicker about whenever Gatomon pauses to wait for them.

He wonders if Dorumon shouldn't Digivolve into Dorugamon but decides not to waste any of his partner's energy needlessly. After all, there were plenty of other people and Digimon about, its not as though they lack experience in battling either. He glances to the purple rookie as he jogs slowly through the forest, keeping about four to five feet behind Gatomon.

"There's TK and Pegasusmon!" Kari says and he glances up into the sky above Dorumon and then to the other side to spy the flying golden horse like Digimon. "I think Cody's riding behind him."

"Shouldn't you have Dorumon Digivolve?" Kari asks as the horse type Digimon. "I mean..." Kari glances over to Gatomon.

"You would have Gatomon Digivolve but you don't know if that will affect her current problem." Dorumon says before he could and Kari nods. He felt Dorumon's eyes upon him while he studies Kari's expression and stance.

"If you want to become Dorugamon, I won't object." He finally says after a few minutes as sounds of battle seem to reach them. He turns to look at his partner when he says that.

"I can Digivolve?" Gatomon says a bit stunned to herself. "I just thought..."

Dorumon nods and his Digivice begins to beep. "Dorumon Digivolve to..." The usual sphere of white energy engulfs Dorumon. "Dorugamon!" His newly altered partner declares with out stretched wings that featured jagged lines of two different shades of purple.

Dorugamon leaps into the air. "Ah guys... Something's happening a bit north of our position." His partner and friend reports.

"Is it that battle we saw TK and them fly off too?" He asks. He really hopes its not bad news.

"Ah... I'm fairly sure that at this point of time, no. Not yet at least..." Dorugamon admits. "I think we should take this one out before it joins its sibling." The champion adds.

"This shouldn't take long." Gatomon says confidently and he gives the cat Digimon a minor glare. One which caused the white champion to give a startled glance to Kari.

"You just had to go and jinx it, didn't you?" He states as flatly as he can. His hand already unclipping his D-Ark from his belt loop before fingering his card deck.

He jerks to the left as something causes the bushes to rustle. A brown and grey humanoid looking thing seems to be moving towards the site of the first battle. He watches as a few metal balls hit it and the ground around it.

Even before the smoke clears, Gatomon is already launching an attack at the strange object that resembles a rather tall and thin humanoid. Gatomon looks satisfied that the target had been eliminated, the digital feline already has her back facing the site where Dorugamon had fired at. _'Maybe I should just slash a card and be done with it. Better put a stop to this before something happens.'_

He winces as Gatomon gets backhanded into a tree. The smoke clears to reveal the undamaged humanoid rock thing. Dorugamon fires off another metal ball, this one hits the rock thing in its shoulder. The rock thing's attention seems to switch from Gatomon to the purple furred champion.

"Gatomon!" Kari shouts but stops herself from charging towards the rock thing while it's still standing over the fallen white furred champion. He tenses, wondering if he has to do something to get to Gatomon out from under there before Kari disregards her caution of the unknown thing made out of rocks and dirt.

_'While, I think it's paying attention to Dorugamon... It's hard to tell without eyes.'_ He thinks as the moving bit of landscape suddenly leaps into the air, it uses the local tree branches as spring boards.

Kari surges forward before he could do so. He's torn between keeping an eye on the high-school student or on the enemy. He's just glad that Kari picks up Gatomon and hurries away from that tree, coming to stand behind him. He's just relieved that Kari hadn't remained so close to where the enemy had been standing.

Jerking his gaze upwards, he manages to witness Dorugamon's wings flatten, causing the champion Digimon to duck down as the rock thing sails through the air, aiming to where Dorugamon had being hovering at. Dorugamon's wings open just before his partner falls below the tree line.

The rock like entity falls out of his sight but as Dorugamon rises into the air, he hears the sound of something heavy moving about the tree tops. Suddenly, he spies something leaping above the tree line, something grey and brown in colour. He hears Dorugamon call out an attack upon hovering high enough in the air that he can hardly make out his partner's form.

He curses as he draws out a card, he hadn't expected to become so absorbed in the fight that he would forget to draw a card from his deck. He hears the explosion but doubts that it has done any real damage. He spreads the four out and picks the card featuring MegaSeadramon's Mega Ice Blast.

He then waits for the rock entity to get in close to Dorugamon. Holding his Digivice in his hand, he watches as a sphere like screen appears a few inches in the air over the face of the Digivice. The holo-sphere shows the forest from high above, likely from Dorugamon's point of view.

As the entity comes soaring towards Dorugamon, his thumbs the edge of the card, waiting for the digital entity to get a bit closer to his partner. Dorugamon continues to circle over head as the purple furred champion watches as the strange being tries to twist about in the air. With a grin, he slashes the card through.

As the entity is beginning to fall, the flying champion declares, "Mega Ice Blast!" He watches as a cone of ice snakes through the air, engulfing the rock being.

"Yes!" He couldn't help but cheer. The chard of ice containing the enemy begins to fall through the air within seconds of the cone coming into contact with the entity.

"How did you do that?" Kari asks and he finally remembers that he's not alone in the forest.

"What was what about?" He counters, hoping that he used the right tone with it.

"You did something with the card... You have that screen showing the forest from up high..." Kari points out and he begins to wonder how best to answer these inquiries.

-(V)-

**Cody Hida**

"It's so big..." He couldn't help but observe as they fly towards the site of battle. Pegasusmon drops down to the ground to let them off.

"I don't think this is going so well..." Pegasusmon observes, not taking off right away to join the champions already engaged in battle with this thing with at least four arms. "They shouldn't have any trouble taking it down..." The armoured horse Digimon adds.

"Garurumon!" Matt shouts and this leads to a certain canine like champion Digimon to be engulf in light. "You too, Greymon!" Tai adds, causing the large dino like Digimon to also be engulf in light, leaving the other two champion Digimon to distract the being while two of their number advance to a higher evolution.

As WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon are unveiled, Digmon arrives to join the frontal assault while ExVeemon and Birdramon hang back. Pegasusmon still hasn't moved to join his fellows. Digmon, MetalGreymon, and WereGarurumon fire off their strongest attacks.

The smoke clears to reveal a slightly damaged enemy that seems to be bleeding out water and steam from cracks upon its body. A cheer raises up from the louder members of the group, namely Davis and Tai. The steam and leaking dies down as the entity that they're facing begins to glow.

Suddenly the landscape begins to glow and the cheers die down. The remaining trees suddenly become uprooted before breaking apart into particles of data. This data gravitates towards the enemy and once acres and acres of trees have vanished, leaving a huge, open field all around Primary Village.

"I think we need to rethink our strategy on this one..." He says while the rest of the Digidestine begin to call out to TK and himself since there weren't any trees blocking anyone's view of each other.

-(V)-

**Koichi Kimura**

Racing through the forest as JagerLoewemon with Tommy riding upon his back, they arrive in time to watch as this glowing being alters its form. Whatever it was, it's body began to grow long, kind of like a snake like or maybe like a ferret. Something raises up along the top spin of the body, something that seem rather large and plate like.

Whatever this being is, it now sports five sets of limbs, the space between the legs seem rather equal. The end of this being has split into two tails. The head sports three sets of horns and a long, slender muzzle with jagged teeth on display.

The glow retreats to reveal those plates to be raised green scales that were capable to overlapping each other. The main colour of the body is grey with brown tiger stripes along its sides. Each toe of this entity appears to be sporting a metal like talon; the metal seems to be copper from the colouring he decides. The fangs on the other hand seem to be more reddish then orange.

The six horns were black in colour and appear to have more in common with antelopes then with rams or goats. The entity's eyes glow blue and it appears as though the face doesn't spot any brown stripes but, instead, crimson and white markings like circles, rectangles, triangles, and the odd symbol either at the centre of a circle or printed in a band with dots in-between the symbols displayed in the band.

All in all, the enemy's appearance seems to be that of a ten legged oriental dragon. Just looking at it causes him to feel as though his armour should rise up like standing hairs. Then, with a few twitches of its tails, the over hundred foot long entity suddenly moves quickly, some how taking to the air.

Quick as lightning, the dragonish being attacks the flaming bird Digimon and seems to be well on its way of choking or biting off the head of the bird Digimon when the white winged Digimon finally reacts with range attack. The more land bound Digimon begin firing off attacks at the dragonish entity. The attacks don't seem to phase the entity.

"Koichi? Could I..." Tommy says and after a few seconds, he lies down to allow Tommy to slide off. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He replies before moving to put some distance between Tommy and himself since he doesn't want this dragon thing to attack Tommy while the young boy wasn't transformed into Kumamon.

Once he's a good distance away does he proceed to attack the flying being. Taking aim, he declares, "Dark Master!" The energy that had been building up finally gets released and takes the form of a black lion. The attack does what the other attacks hadn't been able to do, get the being to let go of the bird Digimon's throat.

"Biyomon!" And somebody moves towards the now falling pink rookie. Not that he has much time to pay attention as the entity is already trying to snatch him up with its jaws.

"Where's Kari? Has anyone seen Kari?" Tai cries out, as if suddenly aware that they were missing people, namely Naruto, Kari, and their partner Dorumon and Gatomon.

"Pegasusmon and I will look for them!" TK cries as he manages to bite down upon one of the black horns, causing him to be risen up into sky. The entity tries to dislodge him by tossing its head this way and that, flying high into the air and then diving right into the ground, dragging him through the ground causing a trench to form until he finally lets go.

He has time to recover as the dragonish entity hasn't managed to turn quickly enough to snap at him with its jaws. He charges up another attack, shouting out, "Ebony Blast!" Though he's forced back from the recoil, the attack hits the dragon entity head on as the head comes to be within two to four miles of him.

He recovers a few seconds before the enemy does and charges forward with a very animalistic snarl. He slashes at the entity's eye before being sent flying through the air. The dragonish entity follows through by firing off a hail of ice shards, a few manage to get lodged in-between his armour joints. He couldn't help but cry out in both shock and pain.

"Mega Claw!" A voice declares and suddenly a humanoid dragon like Digimon attacks the dragonish being's side of the head, causing it to bellow out in pain before leaving off coming after him to attack the mega level Digimon. As he tries to dislodge the shards of ice, the mega in mainly yellow armour keeps the enemy distracted by flying about the sky and blocking with the rather large shield that is usually resting upon the mega's back.

"I think we should pull back. Even if we have both MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon fight this thing, I don't think we'd win." He hears Matt say before he finally just transforms out of being JagerLoewemon.

He sighs as the shards vanish before they hit the ground but he didn't feel like rejoining the fight as those shards seem to have sucked the energy out of him while lodge in-between his armour joints. "Koichi! You alright?" He hears Sora asks as she arrives with Biyomon in her arms.

"Those shards... I think they drained some energy out of me." He admits as he stands up. His first few steps were almost stumbles but he takes it slow so he doesn't fall.

"I think we're going to leave. Whatever that thing is, we're not ready to face it, at least not without the rest of the team." Sora tells him as she catches him before falls to the ground as he trips upon a rock.

Sora helps him as they walk to join with the others while WarGreymon continues to lead the dragonish entity on a merry chase about the sky. "Just glad there's only one of those things." He says and he notices Sora nodding in agreement with that sentiment.

- o 0 o -


	20. Chapter 20

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**01/02 Digital World**

He sighs as Gatomon woke after they gathered around the ice shard that contains the entity that had focus on attacking his partner. He feels a bit better now that the white Digimon has recovered, although considering how easily Gatomon was knocked out, it still might be for the best for him to continue to guard Kari. It wasn't as though he couldn't help Dorugamon from a distance like he did with that ice attack.

Gatomon leaps out of Kari's arms and walks up to the shard. He feels Dorugamon land to his right and he glances at his purple furred partner. He flashes an approving grin to the winged champion, Dorugamon seems to straighten slightly, clearly feeling proud of himself.

"Any idea of what that is?" Gatomon asks them. "All I know is that it isn't a Digimon." The white cat Digimon says as Gatomon touches the surface of the shard.

"Don't know but I think we should back up before that ice vanishes, releasing it." He says, he's never seen a card's effect last so long before and could only assume that it'll vanish in due time. "I really don't think being so close to whatever that is, is a good idea." He adds.

"Don't know, seems pretty solid to me." Gatomon says and even taps the surface of the ice shard with a claw. "See?"

"Maybe I should blast it and hope to delete it in one go..." Dorugamon muses while he moves to stand before Kari. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches as Dorugamon takes a deep breathe.

"Wait! Why not wait for somebody else to arrive? I'm sure they'll be interest in seeing this entity up close." Kari says. "I can message them now." The young woman says and he glances at the Digidestine and native of these two worlds.

"I can't argue with that... Some reinforcements would help." He admits after Dorugamon and him share a silent look for a few seconds. His current champion winged partner and friend nods, folding his wings.

Gatomon shrugs and begins to circle the ice shard as Kari takes out her D-terminal. He decides to pick out another ice attack card to refreeze the entity when it looks as though the shard is about to break apart. _'Which one would be better to use? One of IceDevimon's attacks? Or Vikemon's Artic Blizzard?'_

"There, its done." Kari says as he puts the two IceDevimon's tactic change cards away. "Now to wait for a reply." The more experienced chosen says while closes the screen of the D-terminal.

"Sounds like that battle is still raging." Dorugamon ways as his partner glances off to where loud explosions seem to be going off, though not as much as before. "..." His friend and partner glances from the shard to the sound.

"If I climb a tree, I might get a clear look of what's going on." He says after a few seconds. He tucks the Vikemon card into a pocket before walking over to a tree. With a bit of chakra, he leaps and catches a low branch. With ease, he pulls himself up and continues to climb until he finds the thinnest branches.

"Wow... Guess that thing wasn't the first to wake." He calls down as he stares at this huge entity that is under attack from flying champions. "If that gets out of that shard, I think we'll need an Ultimate." He says.

"Holy crap!" He exclaims at the sight of WarGreymon joining the battle after deciding that they should just delete their entity so that they can join those fighting the giant entity since it appears that they're losing.

"What? What's going on?" Kari asks and he replies, "WarGreymon has joined that battle over there! Not that it seems to make a difference since they're still don't seem to stand a chance with it! I guess their entity has grown use to the various stages."

He then leaps down and glances over at Kari. "Nobody else in the group has replied, have they?" He asks and Kari nods. "Looks like we'll have to destroy this one and then join them. But first..."

He takes out that Vikemon card and slashes it through the card reading slit upon his Digivice after unclipping it from a belt loop. "Arctic Blizzard!" Dorugamon shouts and within seconds, the surrounding area suddenly becomes freezing. The ice shard becomes covered in snow, causing their view of the entity within to come hidden.

"Power Metal!" Dorugamon snarls and within seconds, the ice shard glows before becoming little bits of data. The entity that had been trapped breaks apart as it lies upon the ground until it leaves what appears to be a paper cut out of a person with the kanji of body upon it. Gatomon picks it up before they begin to head towards the other battle field, Dorugamon walking with them instead of flying over head.

"Kari! Gatomon! Where are you?" They hear TK shouting after they have travelled a mile towards that site.

"TK? We're down here!" Kari calls out after stopping and waving her hands above her head. It wasn't long before they spot Pegasusmon in the sky with two riders.

The flying golden digital horse lands a few feet from Kari. He watches as TK gets off of Pegasusmon's back. He watches as the Digidestine of Hope gives Kari a hug before glancing at them to be sure they were fine.

"What's going on? Naruto said he saw WarGreymon fight another strange entity and was losing." Kari says, it's clear that she's worried and he didn't blame her, after all, that one they're fighting had transformed to look like a dragon.

"He's leading it around in the air. Nothing seems to faze it. I think we'll be retreating as soon as we join the others." TK explains. "It keeps absorbing surrounding trees. If we keep this up, this whole forest will be absorbed."

"Frankly, we couldn't handle another one showing up." TK finishes and Pegasusmon nods in agreement. Kari, Gatomon, Dorugamon, and him all share looks.

"Ah... We encountered another one..." Kari trails off and TK seems to pale. "But it's gone now! Naruto and Dorugamon handled it without any problem." The Digidestine of Light explains and the other two 'blonds' stare at Dorugamon and him.

"We used an ultimate and mega attack to deal with it." He explains. "Never expected the first attack to remain so effective as it did. I thought for sure it would have vanished within five minutes after it got trapped." He adds and Kari nods in agreement.

"So you're a mega?" Pegasusmon asks and his partner shakes his head. "Still a champion." The dark purple Digimon replies.

"Naruto swiped some card through his Digivice. Then he slashed another card and Dorugamon used another ice attack." Kari says. "His Digivice is very different from ours." The young woman adds, shaking her head slightly, he's not sure if its out of disbelief or what.

"Koichi had shown up in the form of a black armour wearing lion." Pegasusmon pipes in when TK opens his mouth to say something. "It I guess other chosen children have different Digivices for a reason." The armour Digimon adds.

_'Oh yea, out of the native chosen, only Kari was around when it was explained about how Koichi and Tommy can transform into Digimon.'_ He admits as TK sighs. "Maybe we can continue this after we rejoin the others?" He suggests, he didn't want to explain how his Digivice works more then he has too.

In the end, he rises upon Dorugamon's back with Gatomon while Kari rides upon Pegasusmon's back with TK. He grips the white mane around Dorugamon's neck rather hard, this was the first time he's ever flow upon his partner's back. Gatomon is in Dorugamon's arms as the other champion is still rather small, as in rookie small.

-(V)-

**Dorugamon**

_'That's one big dragon entity.'_ He thinks as he banks to his left to avoid WarGreymon and the foe hot on the mega's tail. He ducks down as the tail of the dragon entity snaps back and forth, he notices that Pegasusmon hadn't moved fast enough to get higher into the air to escape the tail's wake. The flying digital horse wasn't thrown much in the wave wake from what he can see.

They land down by the group of native tamers, called Digidestine, and the two Legendary chosen. He feels his passenger get off of his back, he helps by sitting down, causing his partner to fall back while Gatomon leaps out of his forearms. He watches as the natives crowd around Pegasusmon while his blond partner, Naruto, moves to stand to his right, an arm draped upon his neck.

"Glad to see that you're ok, Koichi. Tommy." His partner and friend says to the pair of fellow dimensional travelers as the two walk over to greet them.

Gatomon finally leaves to rejoin her partner. He can hear Kari begin to speak of what happened with the entity they encountered. As expected, Tai and Davis were the most alarmed out of that group. He feels Naruto tense up a bit as Kari begins to speak of how the Digivice belonging to his partner displayed a window from his view point but had granted him ice attacks by slashing a card through the it.

Koichi and Tommy listened and didn't comment upon anything they heard. He grew bored with discussing this when Kari was asked, for the third time, about the holo viewing screen and upon the appearance of the entity they destroyed. He glances over to the other partner Digimon, noting how worn they look.

MetalGarurumon fires off the occasional attack at the dragon entity. He's glad that he hadn't fired off any attacks until that ice one that encased the entity. He could only guess quickly that particular entity would have grown immune to his attacks and any other attacks his partner could have used viva slashing cards through the Digivice.

His attention returns to the group when he heard mention of them leaving this part of the island.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**Tamer Real World**

He stares out of the living room window as white bits of hail continues to rain down from the dark grey storm clouds that are hanging over the city. Terriermon, he's still a bit unsure what to make of the fact that Digimon were real, had mentioned that this storm seems off but the rookie doesn't know why it does, only that it does. _'Doesn't help that we can't even get a radio signal.'_

"You're turn Henry!" His baby sister Suzie says to him as she tries to hand him the dice. He takes the dice upon glancing down at the game board. Within seconds of shaking the two dice in his hands, he gently tosses them upon the board and they come up as a two and a five.

"I hope your father's ok..." He hears his mom say with a sigh as he moves his game piece about the spaces. He doesn't say anything, just glances off to the door of his room, he could only guess at how hungry his partner was but couldn't think of a reason to take food into his room at this time.

_'I hope this storm goes away. I rather not have to try and explain Terriermon to my family...'_ He think to himself as he suppresses a shudder at the mental image of the happy, go lucky Digimon strapped to a lab table and about to be dissected in the name of science.

-(V)-

**Ryo ****Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

"It's huge!" He says with a bit of awe and uncertainty at the massive beast that seems to be resting in the eye of the storm. Cyberdramon just hovers at the edge of the eye, the snow continues to pile up on the outer edge of the eye, causing it to be rather easy to distinguish the eye of the storm from the still raging storm.

He takes his D-Arc and waits for the information concerning this Digimon to appear as a holo over the screen. It wasn't long before that holo to appear but it takes a few minutes before it finally finishes scanning the offending Digimon. The image of the sleeping Digimon is shown with the Digimon standing upright, displaying the Digimon's canine like head with yellow eyes and row of pale blue stripes upon the Digimon's head like a badger's head.

**Hyookaimon**

Level: Beast Hybrid

Attribute: Variable

Attacks: Summon Hail, Flash Freeze, Icy Needles, and Snow Shape

Beast Man type.

"Hybrid? What does that mean?" He wonders upon reading that part of the description that his Digivice provides. "Not the most helpful description but at least we know he focuses on ice type attacks." He admits as he presses a button to dismiss the profile that his Digivice has provided them.

Cyberdramon lands within the non-snow covered part of the field and allows him to get down from his perch upon his partner's arm. He takes out a few cards from his deck and begins to think of which cards would be best to use against this furry beast man. He's confident that if they finish this guy off quickly, they won't have to deal with finding out just how powerful a beast hybrid is.

He goes through his deck to find the right card combo. He swipes the three through his Digivice and watches as Cyberdramon becomes affected with the power provided by the three cards. With a snarl, his dragon man partner charges aflame at the massive beast man.

The flames covering Cyberdramon leap from the ultimate Digimon to the beast hybrid. This causes the sleeping Digimon to bellow out in pain as the area affected by the fire becomes a burnt bald spot. With a throaty growl and not even getting to its feet, Hyookaimon waves an arm and sends Cyberdramon flying into the snow bank that rings the area.

As his partner recovers, the massive furry Digimon is up upon its feet and glaring at him. He steels himself as he expects to be sent flying through the air. As the Digimon pulls an arm back, something slams into the beast Digimon's back.

As Hyookaimon twists about to grab the offending Digimon, he spies a Leomon clinging to the back. He couldn't see the Leomon's sword but assumes that the sword has been stabbed into the elemental Digimon's back.

"You're reign of icy terror ends here!" The noble champion declares as Cyberdramon fires off an Erase Claw, distracting the massive size Digimon from its attempts to grab Leomon. "Fist of the Beast King!" The lion man Digimon declares upon climbing up the back of Hyookaimon, the attack sends Leomon blasting off of the giant's shoulders while a smaller bald spot can be seen from where Leomon's attack had connected.

"Thanks." He says after Leomon lands a few feet from where he's standing. The champion Digimon glances his way, giving him a brief nod before charging at the hybrid Digimon who's busy trying to bat Cyberdramon out of the sky using Icy Needles.

Moves to stand in another spot as he doesn't want Hyookaimon to change tactics and focus on attacking him in order to cause either of the two Digimon attacking it to go on the defensive trying to protect him. He continues to move around, trying to stay out of Hyookaimon's range of sight as he slashes a card to boost his partner's health. He'll need to be careful about what cards he uses to help Cyberdramon as that first combo had consumed a rather large chunk of his partner's energy and his energy boosting cards were in his pack as he didn't think he'd need them since his partner is an ultimate and the chances of facing off against other ultimates were fairly low.

"Summon Hail!" The five story tall Digimon finally bellows and the overhead clouds darken with rumbles of thunder echoing about the air. With a rather loud pearl of thunder, hail the size of basket balls begin to rain down from the sky.

"Ryo!" He hears Cyberdramon bellow as he begins to evade the huge balls of hail. In the end, his partner pushes him into the snow bank.

Although it's freezing within that ring, he is safe from the hail that's raining down. He watches as Cyberdramon and Leomon try to evade the hail while attacking Hyookaimon. The hail doesn't seem to do much harm to the five story monster but to the smaller Digimon, the hail did, at times, cause Leomon to become dazed and although Cyberdramon's helmet offered some protection, it didn't stop his partner from also becoming dazed.

He assumes that it's only a matter of time before the hail takes its toll upon the champion and ultimate, causing them to become unconscious. Making it easy for this beast hybrid to delete them. With a frown and shivering, he begins to go through his deck, looking for something to at least protect his partner from the pounding hail raining down.

He finds WarGreymon's Shield and without a second thought, swipes it through his Digivice. Within seconds, the shield appears in Cyberdramon's hands. And then his partner mimics some comic book character from the Americas and throws the shield like a frisbee at the enemy Digimon's head.

The hail vanishes as the five story Digimon staggers backwards, the shield falling to the ice covered ground. "Cyber Nail!" His partner snarls and the grey colour dragon man's attacks hits about the eyes, causing the huge Digimon to fall upon its butt.

Leomon charges and when the champion Digimon appears again, it is with his sword. His partner picks up the shield and once more throws it at Hyookaimon's head, knocking the Digimon out. As the shield vanishes into particles of data, the five story Digimon shrinks until the Digimon is about six feet in height.

The raging snow storm seems to let up and the snow all around him suddenly transforms into data particles and the temperature warms. Digi-Gnomes appear and circle overhead as the particles of data drift upwards. After a time, a few of the laughing creatures move towards the hybrid, causing the furry Digimon to lift up.

Suddenly a ring of data appears and upon that rotating ring, an odd looking statue. Then, suddenly, the statue comes shooting towards him only to meet a glowing shield. As the statue tries to get through, his partner snags the statue and the shield vanishes.

He glances around and finds that only the exhausted Leomon remains upon the wet sand. The Digi-Gnomes have vanished.

- o 0 o -


	21. Chapter 21

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**01/02 Real World**

Dorumon lies curled up on the floor before the couch that he's lying upon. He can hear Dorumon shift slightly as the purple furred rookie dreams, what about, he didn't know. In the darkness about the living room, he could almost make out his partner's resting form. He continues to stare down at his friend and partner as he continues to try and control his breathing so he can fall asleep.

_'You would think after such an eventful day I wouldn't have trouble sleeping.'_ He thinks to himself as his gaze turns from looking at the dark form of his resting best friend to staring back up at the ceiling. _'I miss Yamaki...'_

He blinks as he realizes what he had just thought and finds, after a bit, that the problem is that he's sleeping in the Real World. _'I never thought I'd end up in the human world again until I accomplish my mission. When I do, I would be back with Yamaki and sleeping in my room.'_

With a sigh, he tries to get comfortable once more upon the couch. Slowly, he feels like he's drifting off only to have it ruined by wondering, _'I wonder what Ryo and Cyberdramon have been up too?'_

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

**Morning**

"So glad we decided to put it in a back pack." He says dryly as he takes hold of the pack and toss it over to Cyberdramon. He gets up to stretch his upper body before glancing around at the desert around them, trying to pick out any snow left behind.

He dimly realizes that the Leomon is nowhere in sight, which likely means the champion Digimon felt well enough to leave before he woke. "Can't really tell that last night the snow was over four feet deep..." He muses out loud, after all, Cyberdramon isn't much of a talker and the silence does get to him after a time, it's one of the reasons why he misses Naruto and Dorumon so much.

Cyberdramon grunts as he finishes his upper body stretching to begin shaking sand off of his cloths. He grabs his actual pack and upon shouldering it, he glances up at the cloudless sky. Cyberdramon is already ready to get moving, they're going to try and find their way to Azulongmon's palace to see what the mega would do with the strange statue that seems to be trying its hardest to bond with him.

_'Hopefully it won't be hard to make our way back up there.'_ He thinks as he climbs into the nook of his partner's elbow. Effortlessly, the ultimate Digimon takes to the air. _'The problem will be keeping the statue from bonding with another Digimon.'_

-(V)-

**Gatomon**

**01/02 Real World**

"... Gatomon! Wake up, Gatomon!" Kari says and she blinks rapidly up to find a pillow over her head. Lightening up her grip, she tosses the pillow to the side, allowing her to view the room and giving her a clear view of her worrying partner.

As she sits up, she tries to recall what her dream... _'Nightmare really.'_ She notices Kari studying her and almost reaches out to, well she doesn't know to do what to her as a woman softly calls out, "Breakfast!"

Kari glances towards the door as the young woman calls out, "Coming!" Then Kari glances at her and asks, "If you want to talk about your... dream, I'm here to lend you an ear."

She nods her thanks and Kari leaves the room after climbing down the ladder. She glances off out of the window, her thoughts circling about her nightmare. Then her stomach growls and she finally gets down off the double bed, heading for the table where Kari is sitting at with a much older human woman, Kari and Tai's mother.

As Kari gets ready to leave, the high schooler turns to her as she helps dry the dishes. "You remember how to get to Sora and Mimi's apartment, don't you?" Kari asks her and she nods. "Bye mom! See you later tonight!"

"Bye dear." Mrs Kamiya says as Kari's mom uses a cloth to scrub the dishes.

"I'll see you there then." Kari says before walking out of the apartment and closing the door. She flickers her tail a bit while she feels bad for not saying goodbye to Kari, after all, the almost grown human had been nothing but nice to her since they've meet.

As she's done with the dishes, she leaps down from the counter and heads for the door. "Bye Mrs Kamiya. Thank you for breakfast." She says as she uses her tail to open the front door to leave this apartment as Mrs Kamiya says, "Your welcome, Gatomon."

As she exits out of the building, she's a bit daunted by how active the city is during the day. Shaking her head, she pushes her nervousness out of her mind as she tries to recall the route to that apartment where Naruto and Dorumon had spent the night while Koichi and Tommy had spent the night at TK's apartment. _'I wonder what they plan to do today.'_

When she finally arrives at the apartment building, the sun is higher in the sky, which likely means it's around ten or eleven am. She leaps up and presses a button with the correct number of Mimi and Sora's apartment number. A few seconds later and she's able to get through the second door.

"Good to see that you made it." Dorumon says as the purple furred rookie opens the door to let her in. She nods as she passes by the dimensionally displaced Digimon.

"Hey Gatomon!" Palmon calls out from her spot upon one of the two chairs about the living room. She spies Biyomon and Patamon sitting on the other chair while Koichi and Tommy are sitting on the couch.

She didn't spot Naruto until she gets a good view of the flat screen TV. The cheerful blond boy seems to be doing something with a device. "I think this will help at least two of you with your amnesia." The blond says as she moves to sit upon the back of the couch, right behind Tommy since he's the shortest one upon the couch.

"Just what is this series called?" Biyomon asks as Naruto backs away from the device while holding the remotes for the TV and for the DVD player. Instead of answering, a song begins as the screen displays a menu.

Di Di Di  
Digimon Digimon

Di Di Di  
Digimon Digimon

Di Di Di  
Digimon Digital Monsters  
Digimon are the Champions

Digimon Digital Monsters  
Digimon are the Champions

Change into Digital Champions to save the Digital World

Digimon Digital Monsters  
Digimon are the Champions

Digimon Digital Monsters  
Digimon are the Champions

Digivolve into Champions  
Digivolve into Ultimate

Digimon Digital Monsters  
Digimon are the Champions

Digimon Digital Monsters  
Digimon Are The Champions

Digimon Digital Monsters

Digimon!

There upon the screen is a display of a group of cartoon kids who kind of resembled certain members of the Digidestine and a group of cartoon Digimon who do resemble certain partner Digimon she met last night before they headed to Primary Village. The song is repeats itself mid way through, it stops as Naruto presses a button.

The intro finishes and a much younger sounding Tai Kamiya beings to speak. Despite herself, she couldn't help but lay there and watch this cartoon show the first meeting between these cartoon kids and their cartoon Digimon. "Wow... It's like somebody recreated that day..." Patamon state in awe as the episode ends in a cliff hanger and the end credits play.

"I wasn't there though." She points out. "Nor does it show Kari." She couldn't help but add.

"Ah, we didn't know Kari was a Digidestine until we followed Myotismon to the Real World. We also didn't mean you until we first confronted him." Biyomon explains with Patamon humming in agreement as the intro begins again.

"I didn't know Tai thought of TK as Matt's dopey little brother." Patamon muses. "But then, those were his private thoughts..." The orange rookie admits.

"I wonder if somebody made a cartoon about our adventures..." Tommy wonders as the second episode begins. "I wonder what our intro would look like if there was one based off of us."

Any conversations died down by the middle of the third episode. She did wonder if watching this was jogging Palmon's memory but didn't want to ask since everyone seems to be enjoying the show, even though more then a few of the members of the group had lived through it. _'Why do I suddenly dread the idea of seeing myself in this show?'_ She wonders as Naruto moves to make them some lunch.

It made sense that he would since the DVDs belong to him, so the blond has seen this show before and likely will again in the future.

-(V)-

**Tai Kamiya**

**2:13 pm**

He gets shushed as soon as he enters the apartment by pretty much everyone with the exception of the blond and the blond's partner, Dorumon. He silently closes the door and once he gets a clear view of the TV screen, he stiffens at the sight. He slowly shakes his head at the sight of some cartoon version of a younger Matt and himself argue while cartoon versions of Agumon and Gabumon watch them.

In the end, he moves to the table and grabs one of the chairs. Upon putting it behind the couch, he sits down on it and watches the cartoon episode, one so eerily similar to what happened in real life. He flushed at hearing Matt's private musings by the end of the episode before the credits begin.

"I didn't think you and Matt fought so much." Patamon says, causing him to glance over to the little orange rookie. "It must be that guy pride that Kari and Yolei use to talk about."

"Kind of reminds me of Kouji and Takuya's rocky relationship." Tommy muses. "Although it's nice to know I'm not the only one who's considered to be the youngest member of a group." The kid capable of becoming a Digimon adds.

Nothing else was said as the intro plays out, he found the song to be catchy too. The title of this episode proves to be 'A Clue From The Digi-Past' and seems to be focused upon Izzy and Mimi. He tries to recall if they ever did sit around talking about their adventures away from each other after Devimon broke the island up.

He did know that Izzy had discussed their time away from each other but never in a lot of detail. Though, at the sight of the Black Gear, he wonders, _'As those gears still there? Under the surface of File Island? Or did they vanish when Angemon defeated Devimon?'_

His phone begins to vibrate and he excuses himself to answer it since the others seem busy watching the show. "Hello?" He says into the phone.

"Hey Tai. Have you made it to the apartment yet?" Sora asks and he replies, "Yea, I'm here right now."

"How's Gatomon and Palmon?" Sora asks him and he hums thoughtfully as he thinks about how to respond. "Well, I think they might get their memory back a bit sooner then expected. It seems that somebody brought along a cartoon show based upon our adventures in the Digital World. I'm not sure who but I'm laying a guess that Naruto brought them since he's the one with the remotes."

"Which set of adventures are we talking about?" Sora asks after a rather minute long pause. "Currently, the episode features Izzy and Mimi together on a piece of File Island that has that maze. I just finish watching an episode featuring how Matt and I hooked up after the group was separated." He answers.

"Oh..." Sora says and he sighs. "I guess that's one way to help them recover their memories."

"True. I'm thinking about asking the owner if I can borrow the DVDs to burn myself a copy." He explains before adding, "I think you might want to get a hold of Matt and send him over, he is out right now isn't he? I'll send an E-Mail to the others about this oddity. Who knows, we might get the chance of watching what happened during Ken's reign."

"I'll give it a try, though I fear he's likely practicing with his ex-band members." Sora explains and he hums in agreement. "I'll order something for supper. I hope you don't mind paying for it, I'll pay you back."

"Sure, I doubt we'll be leaving the apartment any time soon anyway." He says and they say good bye to each other before their connect ends. He stares down at the phone for a few seconds before pocketing it.

He heads for the door to get his D-Terminal to message the others concerning this interesting documentary about their adventures in the Digital World.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**Tamer Real World**

Usually he ignores the beeping of his Digivice and how antcy Terriermon becomes when a Digi-Field occurs, allowing a Digimon to enter into the Real World. But since the snow storm the other day, he couldn't help thinking about the cartoon and what bizarre weather signalled for the first season of Digimon Adventures. It caused him to wonder if perhaps the Digital World was out of balance.

It wasn't a happy thought as he walks towards the site with Terriermon perched upon his shoulder. He didn't want to fight or send Terriermon into one but if Digimon exist like in that cartoon show, then maybe he's just putting off the enviable fact that he'll have no choice but to fight since if he doesn't do so now, things would only get worst then how it is now.

It wasn't a happy thought but then, that snow storm clearly wasn't natural since it cause electronic equipment to stop working. _'For all we know, it could have been a would be conqueror trying to gain a foothold here in the Real World.'_ He thinks, he shudders at the idea of invading armies of Digimon all over the city, working at herding humans about, breaking up families to try and pick out future Tamers from the children.

It's one of the reasons why he is following the directions upon his Digivice to the spot where a Digi-Field is about to form. Suddenly mists explodes as he enters into an old, vacated building that use to house a shop. The mist seems to clear as his partner leaps down off of his shoulder.

A beastly screech erupts from this flightless bird Digimon that sports a number of scales upon its neck and wicked looking thumb claw and index claw upon the wing. "Hello metal turkey!" Terriermon remarks, trying to mimic a group of certain American cartoon characters that usually say, 'Hello, nurse!'

His nerve fails him as the Digimon regards them coolie with its blue eyes. This champion racks its talons upon the ground, causing slight grooves to be scratched upon the concrete surface. The bird Digimon takes a deliberate step towards them.

_'What kind of Digimon is this?'_ He wonders as he mentally goes over what Digimon he knew but kept coming up with a blank. His Digivice goes crazy within half a second of him having that thought.

As he grabs for his Digivice, Terriermon is already dodging to the left as the foe Digimon launches itself towards Terriermon. The impact of the landing champion causes a minor crater as his lower level partner responds by using Bunny Blast.

**Diatrymon**

Level: Champion

Attribute: Vaccine

Attacks: Blast Shot , Destruction Roar, and Mega Dash Impact.

Ancient bird type. An ancient bird Digimon with powerful leg strength. An extremely ferocious bird, he attacks any moving thing he considers to be an enemy.

_'No good, not good at all.'_ He thinks as Terriermon evades Diatrymon's series of Blast Shot. The green rookie returns fire through Bunny Blast but they don't seem to do harm to the champion bird Digimon. They seem to bounce off of Diatrymon's metallic scales that covered the champion.

It's clear to him that Terriermon is at a clear disadvantage in not just at being a lower level then the champion but in what kind of attack the green vaccine could launch at the flightless bird Digimon. He knew that if this was still the game, he could always swipe a card through a card reader to aid his on field Digimon. He's aware of a slot along the side of the D-Arc but didn't know what side effects there could be by slashing a card through it.

_'If I don't do something soon, I might not even have a partner to worry about.'_ He mentally curses and after fumbling with his deck of cards, pulls out a stamina card and an attack card. He finishes swiping the attack card, which turns out to be Vademon's Unidentified Flying Kiss.

He is forced to run as the other effect of that attack begins to take effect. He hears Diatrymon curse, which surprised him since the bird hadn't come across as capable of speech while moving about, trying to evade those incoming meteors. All the while Terriermon is laughing, likely safe from the incoming space debris.

The attack finally dies down and as the dust and dirt finally dies down, he is relieved at the sight of Diatrymon under a ten foot wide meteor. The champion looks worst for wear and after shooting a glare at him, clearly knowing that he played a part in this unusual attack, the champion screeches and begins to glow. Before he knows it, the site around him alters to appear undamaged.

Sounds of cars and people reach his ears, causing him to realize that the Digi-Field has vanish. He's not sure if Diatrymon committed suicide or what, all he knows is that the Digimon is gone and that he'll have to be more careful about what cards he uses in battle since that attack seems to be a bit of an over kill as it could have easily harmed him along with other bystanders.

"Terriermon? Terriermon..." He says upon finding his partner collapsed upon the ground. It seems that the attack took a lot more out of the green rookie then he expected.

_'But then, he summoned a meteor shower, so of course it would wear on him despite that stamina card.'_ He thinks as he collects his partner. As he holds the rookie to his chest, he glances around the site once more, still amazed that the damages seem to have reversed themselves within the Digi-Field. Leaving no mark upon the Real World.

- o 0 o -


	22. Chapter 22

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Dorumon**

**01/02 Real World**

Over the course of the afternoon, more and more of the first group of Digidestine arrived with the youngest two members of that group, Kari and TK, arrived with all of the members of the second group of Digidestine. It became very crowded in Mimi and Sora's apartment as the few kitchen chairs got used and the few folding chairs that the pair of women used when hosting a larger group of people. Even with those folding chair, members of the chosen of this world were forced to sit upon the floor along with their partners, if they weren't in the Digital world that is.

_'So hot... So many warm bodies...'_ He thinks as he breaths through his mouth. Naruto had elected to give his spot to one of their hostesses and joined him upon the ground. As he is leaning upon his partner's shoulder while his tail is curved to rests behind Ken's back.

He tries not to move his tail too much, which only causes him to want to move it even more. He knew the most of the smaller rookies have taken up seats upon their human partner's laps, but he's rather too large to pull that off and he doesn't have enough room at this moment to curl up around the bewhiskered boy who's both his friend and his partner. The position in which he is sitting is already causing his body to ache.

"Hot?" Naruto asks him softly, oh so very softly as not to get hushed by the whole room. He moves his head to give the blond boy a look and Naruto flushes. _'Stupid question.'_

They had long since finished watching Digimon Adventures, that season is only two hundred and sixty minutes long which is about four hours and thirty minutes. The members of the second group had been a bit stunned at seeing their adventures upon the scene. The room hushed Davis before the maroon hair Digidestine could say something at the sight.

_'I can't wait until supper arrives.'_ He thinks to himself. It had been agreed that they would pause the disc to eat and to take time to do other things.

-(V)-

**Mitsuo Yamaki**

**Tamer Real World**

With a click, the metal lighter in his hand closes. He adverts his eyes from last night's report concerning the defeat of an incoming Wild One within thirty minutes of its breach upon the Real world. The only conclusion is that another Digimon had shown up and dealt with it, a Digimon already living in the Real world.

With a flick of his thumb, the lighter's lid opens before clicking shut once more as he ponders the odds of a Digimon becoming territorial enough to begin to snuff out arriving competition and found them very unlikely. Even with the absence of Ryo and Naruto, its unlikely that a Digimon could become so bold upon its own to begin such actions. Which leaves him with the possibility of a child partnered with a Digimon had ended the Wild One's life. He is rather hopefully that the child in question is partnered with a rookie instead of something akin to Ryo's partnership with a Digimon of a level beyond rookie to be rather unusual.

_'If one views that cartoon as a documentary.'_ He muses to himself. The lighter clicks shut as he glances towards one of the few pictures he has of his young 'cousin'. He continues to hope that things with Ryo and Naruto were going well, after all, that strange digital storm that crossed over had vanished as quickly as it had arrived.

_'Perhaps I should have the research department create something to make it possible for communication between those in the Digital world and the Real world . . . Never know when another crisis will happen and Tamers are needed in the Digital world.'_ He muses before he sets down the lighter and reaches for his mug to sip his cooling coffee.

After he had sipped from his mug, he reaches for his phone to set that idea into motion.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**After School**

"Are we going to patrol around the city? Looking for more rogue Digimon?" Terriermon asks him while perched upon his shoulder as he walks through the park. He notices that most of the younger kids seem to be enjoying the various play equipment spread throughout the park as those of his age group seem to be hanging around under the trees, likely either playing or observing Digimon the card game.

The sight reminds him of all those times he went up against Naruto and lost to the hyper active blond. Its times like these that he feels the blond's absence more keenly then ever before. _'I almost wish I had followed them that day . . .'_

Then guilt flares up as he imagines how his family would take his disappearance. With a soft sigh, he focuses on what his partner, he still finds it rather novel to be friends with a creature he only recently learnt actually existed, and says, "If any try to show up, I'm sure the Digivice will point us in the right direction."

"Then why don't we hunt for those that managed to cross over since your friend vanished with the other guy? I mean, they must be still hanging around concerning they went to all this trouble to come to the Real world!" The rookie exclaims.

"Momentai, Terriermon." He says to his Digimon partner. "Let's take it one step at a time, ok?"

"Mo-men-tai, momentai . . . What does that mean?" The green canine rookie asks him.

"Momentai? It means take it easy in Cantonese." He answers as he walks off the path, heading to a place that sported a red spiral painted upon one of its walls while Terriermon seems to verbally taste the word momentai. (And it begins! ((Evil laughter)) ^_^ )

The gate creaks as he opens it and then presses the inner door. He glances around the concrete room, particularly to the left wall that features the graffiti of a red spiral. Close to the bottom of the wall, there is an orange hand print and next to it is a purple paw print. He still wonders what kind of Digimon possessed such a hand/paw but concludes that he'll likely find out when his blond friend returns.

He comes here because its the only place that continues to bare markings of his absent friend. He feels Terriermon leap off of his shoulder and seemingly glide down to the floor. _'It's a nice little hide out.'_ He admits as he takes off his pack to take out the thin lab top to see how weak the barrier at this location is today.

"You know what's missing in here? Space. And lights, but this place could do with some renovating." The green rookie vaccine Digimon remark once more.

"This shouldn't take long." He reminds his partner. He ignores the snort that followed that statement as the computer boots up. It takes about a minute for the screen to reveal the desk top and about thirty seconds for the icon to finally appear.

He uses the sensitive finger pad to move the mouse curser to click one of the desk top icons. He clicks the icon and it takes a few seconds to run the program. He connects his Digivice to the lab top before enacting the program to go ahead to test how thick the barrier is.

He doesn't know what he'd do if it's thin but so far, in the last week that he began to use his created program, the barrier in this spot proves to remain at a consent strength. He plans to use the readings of this site and compare them to the readings he'll do at the battle site last night. He's curious to see how the two will compare.

"Are we done yet?" Terriermon asks as the green rookie manages to some how, flop upon his head. He sighs softly at his partner's antics.

_'It's going to be chaos when they meet. I just know it.'_ He thinks to himself, he doesn't doubt that Naruto and Terriermon will become fast friends. They had common interests concerning that they think he needs to get out more and to have more fun.

_'Hopefully, Hige's partner doesn't sport the same attitude as they do. I doubt the ward could survive having three of them about.'_ He muses as he saves the results before closing the lab top without turning it off.

"Done." He says as he begins to stuff it into his pack. "One last stop and then home." He adds as Terriermon rolls off his head and lands in his lap.

"Finally! Also, could we stop and grab a bite to eat? I'm starving!" The rookie states as he shoulders his pack.

"I guess it couldn't hurt."

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**01/02 Real World**

He walks behind Dorumon since his partner wanted out of the apartment. He couldn't blame his furry friend from wanting out of that crowded apartment. It wasn't as though his partner was the only one who wanted out either, Tai and Joe had followed them down but had headed in a different direction for their walks.

Although in a strange world, he casually noted minor things that should help them return back to the correct apartment building. Among those walking about the city at night, more then a few would stop to glance at Dorumon. It's not everyday that they get to see a rookie as big as his partner. _'Or as fluffy.'_

"Feeling cooler?" He asks Dorumon, who just sighs as a soft rumble comes from the purple rookie. "Ah, well, I'm sure a bowl of popcorn will settle that."

"You really know how to get on the good side of a guy, don't ya?" His partner remarks and he chuckles softly. "It'll be nice to be back home." Dorumon says after a few minutes of silence. "I'm sure Ryo will be glad to see us too."

"Yea, I'm sure he will. Although I'm kind of wondering how Yamaki and Henry are doing." He admits to his partner. "I mean, I really left Henry hanging and I didn't get a chance to say good bye to Yamaki."

"Feeling guilty of following Sasuke through that portal?" The purple furred rookie Digimon asks. "Can't really blame you, I'm not thrilled about this grand dimensional adventure either, you know." Dorumon says as they pause by an alley way.

"I never thought it would lead us to a world that's depicted as a cartoon." Dorumon adds thoughtfully. "But then, I never thought I'd met a human capable of going toe to toe with a Digimon. Matching special attack viva special attack."

"Yea, well, I never thought I'd met creatures like you or end up in a totally different world that lacks a sun and stars." He reflects. "Then again, I never thought I contain a fox demon in my gut either . . ." He says with a sigh, a hand hovers over his midsection.

"I guess I'm just home sick. I mean, this human world doesn't seem all that different to home, only . . ." The rookie says and he nods, kind of getting what Dorumon means by that.

"I missed that cave when we were living with Yamaki." He admits. "Although I do find school to be a heck of a lot better then the ninja academy. Even if they assign so much homework."

"So you don't miss your birth world? At all?" The furry dragon like rookie Digimon asks.

"I miss the various training fields and breathing fresh air instead of air containing exhaust fumes." He admits. "I want to say I miss a certain ramen stand but, well, I think I'll miss their company more then the ramen. Funny, how being able to eat non-spoiled food changes your opinion and meal ideas." He adds thoughtfully.

"You know, the more I hear about the inhabitants of this village of humans, the more I would love to burn their homes down around them." Dorumon says after a pungent pause. "I mean, a glass filled with water isn't water." The purple rookie reflects.

He just nods while he runs a hand through his messy blond hair. He tries to imagine such an image but found that he just rather settle for never seeing the place again. "It still smarts, you know. I really thought I had what it took to become Hokage, to be respected."

"We should probably head back to the apartment." He says, changing the topic and Dorumon nods in agreement. They then set off back the way they came, hoping that a search party hasn't been formed yet to look for them.

-(V)-

**Kari Kamiya**

_'It's so odd to see parts of our lives play out in front of us in the form of a cartoon. Although, it does seem to help both Gatomon and Palmon recover their memories.'_ She admits as she helps with the dishes.

Instead of using the dish washer, they had opted to wash the load of dirty dishes by hand. It help give them all a chance to reflect more upon what they've watched and are about to watch. Although at least four of their number had left the apartment, which also means that they are waiting for them to return from their walks.

_'I wonder why Dorumon needed to get out though . . .'_ She wonders. _'He doesn't strike me as shy sort, not with Naruto as his partner.'_

She closes the cupboard and glances to the door when Sora opens it, welcoming Joe, Naruto, and Dorumon inside. "It's kind of warm in here and I do sport a lot of fur." She hears Dorumon explain in an apologetic tone.

_'That explains that.'_ She thinks with a slight smile as Sora waves the rookie's explanation away while Joe came in baring some more soda. "Tai should be up shortly with a box of pop corn."

It wasn't long before Tai joins them once more in the apartment as Sora moves to take the box of soda from Tai's arms so that her brother could take off his shoes.

-(V)-

**YamiTekiimon**

**Primary Village**

He stretches a bit as he watches the defence program circle high above the village. The entity wasn't complete but then, he hadn't known about Naruto's Digivice's special feature of allowing Dorumon to borrow attacks from other Digimon with a swipe of some kind of card. _'Still, one out of two of them surviving the first confrontation is pretty good.'_

_'Too bad I can't sent it into the Dark Ocean . . . Oh well, having it around will draw them back so I can send them in its stead.'_ He muses with a smirk. _'But when that will be . . .'_

He might not know but it gives him time to familiarize himself with the weapon before he uses it upon Daemon. There's plenty of various programs hiding that room from the prying eyes of various evil Digimon, especially the one who corrupted the original Daemon, GranDracmon. While he's not sure how successful the defences are in that regard, but he knows that the room hasn't been used in years.

_'I wonder who Piedmon is? He is concerned the previous user of the room but that's all I have on him.'_ He thinks as he heads back into the protective room.

_'Must not have been that important or else he'd still be around.'_ He thinks, dismissing any pondering concerning the previous user. He smiles as he walks over to the machine that houses the weapon.

"You're days are numbered, Daemon."

- o 0 o -

**Omake**

**Henry Wong**

**Second Tournament**

"Wait! You submitted my name for this tournament? Why not DK's or your own?" Hige whines while he pins the paper number upon the blond's back.

"You need to battle other kids from other districts. Who knows? Maybe one of them will be able break your streak." DK responds upon shaking off his fan club.

"You just don't want to face Rika again." Hige says flatly. "Just how many letters of challenge has she sent since November?" The blond asks DK.

"I think the number is up to seven." He remarks and DK sends a bemused look in his direction. "Not that I'm counting of course since I'm not the addressee." He adds, causing Hige to chuckle softly and DK to roll his eyes.

"Well, break a leg as they say." He tells Hige as he pushes the blond thirteen year old towards the door. "We'll be watching." He adds as Hige walks towards the door leading to the room filled with other card Tamers.

"So, why didn't you enter?" DK turns to ask him after Hige vanishes through the door. "I mean, you're pretty good yourself. You have won a few matches against me, after all." DK remarks as they head to their seats.

-(V)-

**Rika Nonaka**

"I don't see Ryo, do you?" A guy says not that far from where she's standing. "It's almost show time, so where could he be?" Another replies while the murmur of the room increases.

"Hey, didn't that blond arrive in the building in the Digimon King's company?" Another wonders and she catches sight of said blond. She remembers him from last year's tournament as he had left in Ryo's company back then, which makes them friends.

"Go asks him then."

"No, you go ask him."

"Come on, why would somebody as cool as Ryo want to hang out with a guy like that?"

"Hey, isn't that the girl Ryo beat last year?"

And on and one it went until a whistle pieces through the murmur of the room, causing every kid to become silent. It wasn't long before they were divided into four sections. She finds herself in the third section while the bewhiskered blond named Naruto is placed in first section.

She faced countless opponents, none of them really that challenging. She had gotten a lot of practice in since her lost last year, so it didn't surprise her much. _'The only reason I entered was to face off against Ryo. These others just aren't worth the effort.'_ She thinks dismissively.

She found herself trying to pick out Ryo out from the crowd and by the time she's to face off against an opponent from section four, she found him in the front row with another teen, this one wearing an orange vest. _'I'll have to try for a match after I'm done here.'_

After coming out victorious from her match with the winner from fourth section, Naruto is victorious from his match up with the winner from first. _'This will be a quick match.'_ She observes as she takes her place across from the blond.

As they went through their match, she couldn't help but notice that the blond across from her wasn't even trying. _'He's not even looking at his hand! What is this? Some kind of intimidation tactic?'_ She wonders, narrowing her eyes while the blond seems to be studying the Digimon on her side of the field with a bore expression.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she finishes her turn and once more, the blond takes a few cards from the deck and then seemingly randomly takes two and plays them. "You won..." She says as she realizes what just happened.

"Really? Damn, I was trying to keep this going for at least three more turns." The blond says while the announcer declares Naruto Uzumaki the winner of this year's tournament.

She couldn't help but find what happens afterwards to be a blur, unreal actually. "Ah, don't feel too bad. I've yet to lose a match in the two years I've been playing this card game." Naruto says to her, causing her to find herself in the room where they had gathered for the tournament to begin.

"As hard as it is to believe, Hige's the one who taught me the game." She hears Ryo say.

"He's the best card Tamer in Shinjuku." The orange vest wearer adds. "So don't feel too bad. We've lost plenty of times against him, heck, more then a few times he was blindfolded."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." She states in a deadpan way. _'Although, if even the great Rika Akiyama is unable to beat the blond, then if I do . . .'_ She watches as the group of three teens walk away.

She discarded a goal for a new goal. _'I'll beat the unbeatable.'_ She

thinks, unknown to the girl, one of her cards in her deck just transformed into a blue card.

- o 0 o -


	23. Chapter 23

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**01/02 Real World**

The weekend has finally arrived and they are now finally going to return to Primary Village. They will also be meeting up with other Digidestine since they will be dealing with that dragon entity that is still hanging around Primary Village. He does wonders if having so many Digimon will make a difference against that being or none at all.

Mimi finally arrives out of her room carrying a bag containing medical supplies. With Palmon's partner ready to go, Sora opens the gate and they get sucked into the bright light that emanates from the screen. "Ouch! Who's elbow is pressing down on my temple?"

It takes a few minutes for them to untangle themselves from each other. He's got a sore spot in the middle of his back, right where Tommy's left elbow had been. Koichi seems to be rubbing his stomach, that's where Dorumon's foot had pressed down when the purple rookie had been struggling to get off of the pile of bodies, human and Digimon.

Suddenly, another pile of people arrive and a more controlled form of chaos ensures as they help those within this pile to untangle themselves from each other. After the rest of the Japanese Digidestine have arrived, other Digidestine from around the world arrive in smaller groups, mainly one to two people arriving at a time. As the last stragglers arrive, he turns off his MP3 player and puts the device back into his backpack before getting up off the ground.

He doesn't pay much mind to the various conversations going on since they are conversing in English as it has become the international language. _'I wonder if I'll ever speak it fluently...'_ He muses to himself as he watches passively as everyone seems to have something to add to the on going conversation concerning what kind of battle strategy they're going to try against the entity still hanging about Primary Village.

_'I wonder if I'll be able to get Dorumon to Digivolve into his ultimate form. We might need some more fire power to take this one down and I doubt I'll be able to get Dorumon to become a mega as we've never attain ultimate yet. We barely have had to go champion before either... But then, Cyberdramon is an ultimate and usually arrives at the scene quicker then we have.'_ He thinks as Tai finally takes control of the meeting and the number of people talking finally quiet down.

"You're not able to follow what they're saying, huh?" Dorumon asks him and he glances over at the largest rookie Digimon of the group. "Guess that's kind of stupid of me to ask considering that you had only been attending school for less then six months..." The purple furred dragon like Digimon muses.

"But you can understand English even though you've never had to hear it being spoken in the Digital world? How freaky is that?" He remarks.

"Data is data." Is all Dorumon states and he guesses that his partner and friend is right. "The first part of the meeting had to do with introductions and then people were asking for details concerning the dragon entity." His Digimon partner explains and he just hums.

"Ah, oh well, are we getting close to the point where we will be heading to Primary Village?" He asks after a few seconds. "What do you think? With these number do you think we'll be able to defeat it?" He inquires.

"Don't know, although it likely would help if we have a few more megas fighting it. We likely have a better chance at defeating it if we manage to overwhelm it in the first few minutes of battle." Dorumon answers frankly.

"Which begs the question about how many other Digimon partners can achieve mega or even ultimate level." He replies with a soft sigh. He's glad that they're standing a bit away from the group since it means that Dorumon and himself can have some privacy. He's sure that some of the other Digimon can hear what they're saying but it's unlikely that they'll be interested enough to focus in on their conversation, not when a more important one is going on concerning what they will be up against in the coming battle with this non-Digimon entity.

"Any idea how to become an ultimate?" He asks after a few minutes as one of the international Digidestine speaks. "Cause I think we'll need that extra fire power and I doubt any of them will stand for me joining the frontline."

"Am I even ready to achieve that level?" The purple rookie counters and he counters that by responding, "Were you even ready to achieve champion when you did?"

"Point." Dorumon admits after a few seconds. "Hige."

He just rolls his eyes and a soft snort. He crosses his arms but resists the urge to tap his foot or to begin pacing. He just wants to get going and couldn't see why they can't talk as they walk. Oddly enough, this kind of reminds him of him attending the ninja academy, particularly when they were about to start practical part of the course like taijutsu or kunai throwing.

_'I wonder if this means we'll be splitting up?'_ He wonders and within a few minutes, he finds that yes, they will be splitting up. He hears Kari call and wave them over.

By the time he joins Kari's group, the other three groups are heading off, two heading to the right and the third going to the left. Those who weren't Japanese study him curiously and he just smiles while giving them a small wave. Most return the smile with a smile of their own with a wave.

With that, they head off slightly left but mostly straight direction. He does glance at the other Digimon partners that belong to those not of Japan. He tries to guess which Digimon belongs to which Digidestine.

-(V)-

**Kari Kamiya**

As they arrive at one of the deforested sites, they stopped. She turns to address the group in English, "Alright, those who can Digivolve, do so. From this point on, we'll likely find ourselves under attack by the enemy."

With a nod from the majority of the group, they spread out. She does manage to see Dorumon nudge Naruto and gets the blond to move. She did wonder if it were a trick of her mind that she thought she saw Naruto look kind of confused about something. Pushing it out of her mind, she regards Gatomon.

"Ready?" She asks the white cat Digimon and Gatomon replies, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Touching her Digivice, Gatomon begins to glow. Within seconds, Angewomon is standing before her. Her partner suddenly touches her metal helmet and she wonders what's wrong. "Are you ok?" She asks.

"I remember... I got my memories back!" Angewomon tells her and she smiles, surprise and relieved that her partner of many years has regained those moments they've shared through the years.

"I wonder if Palmon will regain her own by becoming Lillymon..." Angewomon muses out loud and she hums thoughtfully before they shake a hug. Once they let each other go, she turns to glance around to see who else has finished Digivolving.

She gives Naruto's partner, Dorugamon, a glance before moving onto looking at the rest of the Digimon. Majority of them are now ultimate level Digimon with only three others achieving mega. The three megas are Cannondramon, Darkdramon, and, finally, Joe's partner becoming a Plesiomon.

She hears a whistle and glances to find Naruto and Dorugamon glancing at Plesiomon. "I would have thought Gatomon would have achieved mega, but it's good to see some of the others did so." The blond teenager muses.

"I guess you don't know how to get to ultimate level, huh?" Angewomon comments before some of the others slowly come join Naruto and Dorugamon in standing by her.

"With Cyberdramon around, why would we need to advance pass champion?" Naruto asks and it takes her a few seconds to realize that Naruto's talking about the latest Digimon to partner with Ryo. "Besides, with my deck, we have a wider array of attacks then Dorugamon's natural ones."

She nods as she recalls how Dorugamon managed to engulf that one in ice when they encountered it. _'Still, I wonder what kind of Digimon Dorugamon will become when he does finally achieve ultimate level.'_ She muses as her gaze lingers upon Dorugamon for a few more seconds before glancing up at the sky, looking for any signs of that dragon entity.

As of yet, nothing seems to appear overhead and after a few minutes, takes out her D-Terminal and messages the leaders of the other three teams. The message was short and to the point, it read _Ready here, Kari_.

As they wait for the other teams to get into position, members of her unit began to engage in chit chat. Most of the Digimon ring the group of humans, warily glancing around, likely expecting that dragon entity to appear to attack them. Chit chat among her team is short and often to the point as they feel the tension coming from their Digimon partners.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, two of the three other teams send messages about being ready. Close to another twenty minute and a deafening roar thunders. She feels as if every hair upon her body is standing on end as some kind of beam attack suddenly comes their way before dispersing.

Those Digimon who can fly are already rising up into the air. The two flying megas begin to lead the rest in the direction of where the beam originated from. She watches her partner as Angewomon follows after.

She couldn't help but hope that her partner will come out of this alive, without needing to be reborn.

-(V)-

**Dorugamon**

He watches as the other fliers head off towards the source of the attack. He hovers a few feet in the air before glancing over to Naruto. He drops down and bends down before asking, "You coming or what? You kind of need to see what's what in order to judge which cards to use, right?"

"Or I could try using that viewing screen to see what danger you get yourself into." The blond Tamer points out and he blinks a bit at his partner. "But if you feel more secure about having me on your back, who am I to say where I'm needed?"

He snorts softly but he still feels better having his partner and friend within a certain distance physically even though said partner and friend is more then capable to defending himself then any other human among the chosen, with the possible exception of those who transform into Digimon. He looks away from Naruto and towards the rather huge crowd of flying Digimon. It wasn't long before he feels somebody taking fistfuls of his mane and getting upon his back.

A part of his back tingles oddly and as best as he can look, finds Naruto sitting straight up while adjusting a single set of black goggles, he recognized them as a recent purchase of Naruto's. "I would have thought you'd stick to those sunglasses." He found himself musing as he prepares to leap into the air.

"They do much to protect my eyes. The wind would be able to lift them off my face." Naruto explains as the young teen leans forward, preparing for him to take to the air.

_'Huh, guess he's got a point.'_ He decides as he finally leaps into the air. It doesn't take long for him to adjust to Naruto's weight upon his back before flying after the group of fliers.

He is dimly aware of Kari calling after for them to land so Naruto can get off, he doesn't see any need to do so and continues onward with the blond ninja trained Tamer upon his back. _'It's not as though Naruto's easy to kill and we might need him to help deal with this entity. I highly doubt that this thing will fair very well against Hige's jutsus.'_ He mentally argues with himself as he feels kind of guilty about not obeying Kari's command.

Surprisingly enough, it doesn't take them long to encounter said danger as the serpentine entity suddenly comes diving down with WarGreymon in its mouth and a bunch of Digimon from the other units trailing after it, firing off range attacks or trying to get in close for physical ones. The crowd of Digimon he had been trying to catch up with part out of the non-Digimon's path while he enters into a drive to try and get close to the entity.

He feels Naruto's body flatting upon his neck as his partner tries to help him speed up by trying not to cause any more drag as he could by remaining upright. He tries to fly parallel of the entity when he gets within a mile of it, not wanting to get too close to the body since he's not sure when the body will twist and turn in the air following when the entity changes direction in the sky. He kind of remembers how agility this being is from their previous encounter.

"I think he's about to..." Naruto states only to be cut off when the entity not only pulls up from its dive but suddenly snakes towards Darkdramon. WarGreymon is falling through the air upon the entity deciding its done chewing upon Tai's partner. He doesn't have time to spare a look of where the damaged mega will land and just hopes that there won't be any Digimon upon the spot.

"Try to get in front of it, Dorugamon! We should try and attack its eyes!" Naruto shouts almost directly in his ears.

He just grunts but as he watches various attack either get absorbed by the hide or bounced off, he could see why that part might be more susceptible spot to truly injury this entity. _'Not going to be the easiest thing to do, though. It seems pretty content to move from one target to a new one.'_ He thinks as he watches as the serpentine dragon entity is attack its fifth target since dropping WarGreymon.

The enemy clearly finds it rather easy to get rid of the ultimate level Digimon and he finds himself less then eager to attract the thing's attention seeing as he's only a champion. He doesn't let his fear control him as he struggles to reach the head of the entity, which is very difficult as the entity continues to switch targets rather quickly, those that do manage to keep the enemy's attention are those fleeing about the sky, not even firing off attacks. He finds it easier just to dig his talons into the thick hide and allowing himself to be whipped about as the entity is snaking about in the air.

"Ok, I'm going to run along its length to the head. Just nod yes if you understand what I'm about to do." Naruto says as the crowd of flying Digimon seem to wheedle down to about less then thirty but more then fifteen. He couldn't help but nod, more then happy to get away from the entity's main body and knows that Naruto should be able to distract the entity long enough for somebody to come up with a plan.

He moves to fly parallel, his left wing tip brushing against the entity's body. He feels Naruto move upon his back and then as the entity begins to dive once more, his Tamer leaps off him and he watches in stomach turning worry as the blond falls through the air and sighs as the entity's body sudden pulls up. Naruto lands upon the entity's back and he pulls away as quickly as he can.

"What's your partner doing?" Angewomon demands and he glances at the obviously female Digimon. Though the ultimate holy Digimon doesn't have any visible eyes, he is pretty sure that she's sporting angry eyes, likely narrowed and shooting daggers at him.

"He's got a plan, just give him some time to get to the head." He says defensively. "I know how that might sound, but he's got a way to get there, all we need to do is keep from falling under attack or swatted out of the sky." He adds.

They part as the entity's tail comes whipping in their direction. He can't see where Naruto is upon the enemy's body but he's confident that the blond is heading for the head. He begins to dodge the fire coming from the ground, it seems that the Digimon upon the ground have finally been organized.

He could only guess how hard it fight such a mobile enemy from the ground. The air battle likely has been fought over most of Primary Village and its surrounding fields. He tries to track the enemy while at the same time avoiding the incoming fire from the ground.

He feels more then hears the entity flying over head. The trail wind pushes him out of the way of a foot when he manages to look upwards. He does worry that Naruto might get hit by the various range attacks but there wasn't anything that he could do since he's just not able to match the serpentine dragon like entity's speed.

_'Please let him be alright.'_

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

He uses chakra to keep his grip upon the entity's back. He doesn't feel comfortable standing up and so is climbing towards the head like one would climb a cliff. Although unlike them, he doesn't need to find foot holds, just make sure that his chakra is flowing steadily out of the appropriate limbs that come into contact with the surface of his foe.

A weightlessness happens when diving and the feel of gravity gets reapplied when they stop. He's more then privately glad for his purchase of black goggles since if he had worn his usual eyewear, he'd have lost them fairly early of his attachment to the enemy. Not that he allows himself to pause in his efforts of crawling to the head, the only effect all this sudden alteration in the entity's flight pattern just causes him to become dizzy and cause him to suddenly be very glad that he hadn't eaten heavily at breakfast or else he'd likely vomit it up by now.

"How are you doing that?" He hears somebody shout at him and he refuses to glance away from the body under him for fear of some bodily function doing something that will cause unpleasantness for him.

"Traveling to the head!" He answers as loud as he can. Then the body suddenly does a sharp left and he grinds his teeth. He's fairly certain that the Digimon that had been behind him isn't there at this point in time.

_'I'm so going to need something for all of these aches... I swear that I'll never look at a roller coaster the same way ever again.'_ He thinks as he continues to crawl, finally coming towards a shoulder if he's any judge of anatomy.

- o 0 o -


	24. Chapter 24

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Dorugamon**

**01/02 Digital World**

The attacks coming in from the ground continue even as the huge digital dragon entity fires off minor energy balls at the ground troops. He watches as some of those that are within the blast ratios transform into a lower level, mainly in training or rookie. He glances at the twisting entity, trying to spy where Naruto is.

He flies higher then the dragon like entity and he finally spies his human partner just about ten feet from the head. "Just how can he keep a grip on that thing? It's not like it's scales are protruding much, they're more like fish scales." He hears Angewomon remark.

"It's something of an art back where he's from. I'm not really sure how to explain it myself, only that it's really handy ability to have." He replies while MagnaAngemon and the remaining fliers hang in a loose formation behind him. "It's how he rescued me from a pair of fighting champion back home." He adds as he watches Naruto's progress as the digital dragon entity seems to have finally stopped flying about and is hovering over an area while firing off attacks.

Finally, the blond human reaches the top of the head and moves to attack one of the eyes. The dragon entity roars in out rage and suddenly is moving all over the place, trying to dislodge Naruto. He's already diving, he kind of recalls a movie concerning killing a huge dragon using a crossbow and an explosive arrow. He only hopes that the others pick up what he was going for as he moves towards the nose of the enemy.

The entity screams in pain, likely due to Naruto using a jutsu. He opens fight into the mouth, aiming for the back of the throat. "Why didn't we think to do that before? It's like with MetalSeadramon all over again!" He hears MagnaAngemon say.

As the mouth is about to close, he swallows hard and darts forward as fast as he can, making it into the mouth just as the teeth close behind him. One of the first things he notes is that there didn't seem to be any smell associated to this entity. Another thing is that there's some kind of light at the back of the throat.

With something to target, he flies towards the back. He has to adjust his position as the entity is flying about, snapping its head all over the place. He tries his hardest not to land upon the tongue.

Finally, he hovers about a mile or three from the back of the throat. He gathers as much energy within him as he can before firing off an attack. He had noticed that the light had gotten stronger but hadn't thought much of it. The resulting explosion of his attack hitting the gathering energies of the entity's own energies causes him to be pushed totally out of the mouth.

He dimly notes that the other fliers seem busy with continuing to attack the mouth as he falls through the air. He sees ruby spots, likely the result from the brighten of the explosion he caused.

-(V)-

**Naruto Uzumaki**

His attacks on the eye has brought about cuts upon it. The equivalent of blood begins to leak out. He manages to perform a razor edged, whirl wind jutsu, this digs deeper into the damaged eye then his previous jutsu. He finds it hard to keep his footing as the blood runs out of the eye.

He's dimly aware of other happenings, like how the quick, snapping movements seem to have stopped and that the entity seems to be hurting from some other pain. He glances over to the snout and finds that not only was there Digimon before it, but they're firing into the mouth. Smoke seems to be exiting out of the mouth as well.

Then as he turns his body more, he spies his partner, Dorugamon, falling towards the ground. "Ah hell..." He mutters and glances about the sky, he isn't that surprised to witness the recovery of the aerial forces, they likely did have some time to recover their strength and are now able to aid in destroying the entity from the inside out.

He curses as the blood seems to be causes the chakra he's focusing upon the soles of his runners seems to be. His hand goes to his D-Ark while his other one pulls out a card. He leaps off and without looking at the card in his hand, he slashes it through his Digivice. He is a bit surprise to see a solid blue card in his hand but snaps his head towards his purple friend and partner.

"Dorugamon Matrix Digivolve too..." The white sphere surrounds his Digimon partner for a few seconds before exploding outwards, the fragments vanishing in midair. "DoruGreymon!" His red furred partner roars and within seconds, DoruGreymon's head snaps to look at him.

He's awed at his partner's ultimate form, particularly the metal spear tip upon the tail and the nose blade. Unlike Dorugamon, DoruGreymon is four legged and sports a long slender head, although there does seem to be four spikes hidden in the white mane. There is two sets of wings and they seem to have piecing upon both sets of wings, they kind of remind him of kunai knives actually.

"Naruto!" DoruGreymon cries out and the ruby red furred ultimate stops hovering in the air and comes towards him. Once under him, DoruGreymon stops and he falls onto his partner's back with a minor grunt.

"That's a crazy stunt you pulled, you know? Why didn't you just stay there? On its head?" DoruGreymon asks him while turning to face him as best as he could.

He laughs nervously as he explains, "Well, it's blood was doing something that made my chakra covered soles to get unstuck. And besides, it worked out fairly well, don't you? I mean, look at you! You finally stopped being purple! Not that there's anything wrong with purple..."

His partner grunts before they glance at the entity, they manage to witness the destruction of the strange entity as WarGreymon explodes out of the mid section of the odd digital dragon. The thing couldn't even emanate a roar before it's frame explodes. Streams of data flow to the barren forests and within seconds, the forests are restored.

Cheers echo throughout the forests and the sky at the defeat of such a powerful foe. "Huh, is that a..." DoruGreymon murmurs and within seconds, the primarily red furred ultimate is under a paper cut out, very similar to the one they collected from that entity they had defeated through encasing it in ice.

He snatches it from the air and turns it over a few times but is mystified about what it means. "It doesn't look like much, does it?" DoruGreymon states and he merely nods.

He automatically clenches a fistful of fur as his partner flies down to the ground. He lets go of it and then slides down the left side of his partner. "Boy are you big." He says as he takes time to admire his partner's new appearance once more.

His partner and friend snorts softly at this observation. Finally, after a few minutes, they're joined by the rest of the aerial forces. Many of the Digimon congratulate DoruGreymon and himself about their contributes to the destruction of the entity while a minor few chaste him for putting himself in such a dangerous position.

It takes about ten minutes for the other side of the partnership to arrive. It takes longer for the other partners to arrive, but everyone is talking oh so excitedly in various languages that he kind of moved to be closer to DoruGreymon's neck. He can't help but feel overwhelmed by the various people that surround him.

Some of the other Digimon return to their preferred forms, although DoruGreymon doesn't but then, that wasn't unusually as he recalls how long his partner had remained as Dorugamon the first time his partner achieved that level. He wonders if it'll take the four hours as it had that time or shorter since DoruGreymon has figured out how to exit out of said form once the fighting has stopped.

But for now, it seems as though his partner isn't looking to do so at this particular moment as of yet. Which he concludes might be because his partner hadn't got a chance to battle as DoruGreymon. _'But then, we were here to speak with a Digimon called YamiTekiimon when we encountered these odd digital entities.'_ He thinks to himself as he strokes DoruGreymon's neck.

He ideally wonders if any of them remember that little fact while the huge group talks excitedly among themselves. He guesses that they're retelling the events of today's fight over and over again. He guesses that if he knew the language, he wouldn't be so overwhelmed by what's going around him since he would know what's going on around him.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**Tamer Real World**

He pushes his shades down before entering into the mist that usually signals the arrival of a Digi Field. Terriermon leaps from his shoulders and glides down to the ground before the mist clears to reveal the soon to be battleground where two Digimon will engage each other. He has his Digivice out and waiting for Terriermon to pick up who's to be his opponent.

**Muchomon**

Level: Rookie

Attribute: Data

Attacks: Tropical Beak, Ardent Flare, and Endless Faceslap

Bird type. This bird is colourful and prefers warm climates.

The holo shows a plump bird like Digimon sporting a slightly deep red coloration with yellow belly with red marks upon the belly. The beak is mainly green with a yellow tip. Muchomon also appears to be sporting green eyes.

"There's only one of these guys? This is going to be a piece of cake!" Terriermon boasts.

"Who says our amigo is alone?" A voice asks to the far left. "After all, it's one for all." A second one says while another finishes it, "And all for one!"

A good five Muchomon ring about them in a almost half circle. "Me and my big mouth..." The green rookie grumbles about and he has to agree.

_'Murphy sure doesn't like it when you tempt him.'_ He muses privately as the five bird rookies encircle them. "Just what is it you would want here in the real world?" He asks, he would have asked the other Digimon they've faced but they didn't strike him as talkers.

"What does any Digimon want? To get stronger, right amigos?" One of the Muchomon says and the others chime in, "Right!"

"Just how does coming to this world will make you stronger? Are you looking for human partners? Is that why you've come?" He asks the group.

"Who knows? Maybe you're right about looking for partners or maybe we're here for something else. All we know is that there's something here for us and it will aid us in our quest for power." One of the Muchomon behind him says.

"And you're standing in our way, so no hard feels, ok?" Another says before four of the five shout, "Ardent Flare!"

-(V)-

**DoruGreymon**

**Dark Ocean**

_'Just how did we end up here? I can get how Koichi got pulled into here but why Naruto and I?'_ He wonders as he glances about the beach in bewilderment and with a hint of dread.

"Why are we here?" Koichi asks and he glances over at the one who's Chosen of Darkness. He notes how pale and drained Koichi appears to be.

"Because I came here." A new voice pipes in and as one, they look up to the right. "Although to be truthful, I had not extended the invitation to your two friends..." YamiTekiimon trails off with a frown.

"They're here under my invitation, child." A vaguely familiar voice says and out of the sands erupts the berobed mega known as Daemon. "I have grown quite tired of my current scenery. The boy shall be my key out of this prison."

"Who says I'm going to help you out? You're the reason why Sasuke deleted and absorbed all of those Digimon!" His blond partner says, pointing at the Demon Lord of Wrath.

"Besides, he's already got a partner." He adds and he gets the feeling that the virus mega is grinning. He flares his wings out and leaps to stand between the two.

"I could think of many a fine things to do with your X-Antibody." The Demon Lord says and he feels his fur prickle at the mention of X-Antibody. He only has a vague knowledge of such a trait but the way Daemon said it, implied that it's something very important.

"Who says you'll be capable of using either of them? When our business is yet to be concluded?" YamiTekiimon states calmly.

He gets unnerved by the laugh that Daemon erupts with upon hearing that. He lowers his head in a threatening manner, not bothering to turn to face the strange Digimon that sports a hint of Sasuke's scent. "Then perhaps I shall deal with you first." Sneers Daemon.

"If you can." YamiTekiimon says with a chuckle and seemingly with a blink, the Demon Lord is already midway towards YamiTekiimon. He knew that megas were a step up from his current level but he mentally cursed as he realize that there's more to Daemon then him just being a mega.

As YamiTekiimon dangles in Daemon's hand. Then, suddenly, YamiTekiimon's appearance explodes and metal hooks, grips, wires; thick and thin kind, engulf's Daemon's whole being. He watches as Daemon shifts into his true appearance but that doesn't stop shatter the hold this device has upon the mega's body.

"As you divided me, so I shall divide you. Your pieces shall be scattered throughout the worlds, wandering about with only a silver of your power and memories." The real YamiTekiimon says, stepping out of the shadow of the device and of Daemon.

"You fool! You think this will hinder me for long? I'm the original! All others like me are but faulty copies! I won't be destroyed so easily!" Daemon howls as the device begins to glow.

"I'm not really destroying you, I'm just creating fractions of you that will posses the same amount of power. It's just reshuffling your data into separate bodies." YamiTekiimon states calmly.

The device finally causes Daemon's whole frame to shatter and for a few seconds, they saw what lies under the 'skin' before the light of data stills for a minute while the data lines begin to get pulled to at least twelve different centres throughout the body. Eggs skins finally engulf the various data sphere.

Then, within seconds, each of those eggs explode outwards, none following directly in the path of each other. Their trajectories were in different degrees of angles and as they move further down these angles, it gives them a better view of each egg before tiny portals open up about a mile away from their 'brithing' point.

With all the eggs gone, he turns to watch as YamiTekiimon nods in satisfaction at what has just happened. He didn't know if what they had just witnessed would be a good thing to have happened to the Demon Lord or merely the seeds of ruin for the worlds they will likely land upon and hatch in. Which ever it was, it will likely be somebody else's problems to deal with as he really doesn't want to be sent to collect those twelve eggs.

"So you got rid of him, now what are you going to do?" Naruto asks the rookie Digimon carrying the other half of Koichi's spirit element. "And what happened to Sasuke? Where is he?" The blond demands.

YamiTekiimon just laughs at the question.

-(V)-

**Henry Wong**

**Tamer Real World**

He manages to lunge to the space between the two Muchomon while his partner uses his Terrier Tornado upon one Muchomon before him. The incoming attack meet in the middle of the group while the one Muchomon that his partner, Terriermon, is attack gets sent flying a few feet. A minor dirt trench is created as the Muchomon hits the dirt and slides upon it before stopping.

The other four are already launching themselves at Terriermon. He begins to fumble with his card deck, looking for the right card to help his partner. He finds a speed modify card and slashes it through his Digivice and with ease, Terriermon not only gets out of their way, but has head butted one of the four Muchomon.

"Ha! Too slow!" Terriermon crows while moving away from the Muchomon he just headbutted.

Before the speed dies, Terriermon is a few feet from the Muchomon and using Bunny Blast at them. The Muchomon cry out in pain at taking the blunt of his partner's Bunny Blast. "This isn't looking good for us, camaradas." Says one of the Muchomon.

"What do you expect? You're all a bunch of bird brains!" His partner taunts, although it seems that the Muchomon have decided to stead fast ignore Terriermon's taunts and comments.

"Si, amigo." Echos at least two of the Muchomon as they brush off imaginary dust. "Their doing a really good job fighting, even if we're only fighting the one." A third remarks upon joining the four others.

"Looks like we've got to use plan delta." A fourth says and the other four give a sharp nod. They then line up in a V formation.

"Oh, real scary, you're flocking me." Terriermon says while they come running at the green rookie. "Bunny Blast!" His partner declares and tiny energy pellets launch from Terriermon's mouth.

The formation zigs and zags while charging towards the green rookie. "Ardent Flare!" The centre point cries and the rest echo it, the attacks hit Terriermon's former position but still sends Terriermon flying back.

"Terriermon!" He cries while the Muchomon get in real close and uses Tropical Beak. They then begin to kick his fallen partner.

Concern wells up while despair engulfs him. Suddenly, a sphere of light encases Terriermon, forcing the Muchomon back and they land upon their backs. "Terriermon Digivolves too..."

The sphere bursts to reveal Terriermon in his champion form, Gargomon. The gun handed champion declares, "Gargomon!"

He's relieved to see that Gargomon's guns are not firing off right off the bat. "Looks like we've got you out classed, you parrot rejects!" Gargomon taunts before charging the nearest and uses Bunny Pummel.

As the Muchomon try to reorganize themselves, the pants wearing Gargomon uses Gargo Laser. One of the Muchomon explodes into data particles, it seems they just couldn't handle receiving any more damage. A few seconds later and the rest of the gang follows in the foot steps of the first, within a second, the Digital Field vanishes.

"Shouldn't you be returning to your rookie form?" He wonders after a minute passes since the defeat of the five rookies. Gargomon merely chuckles nervously while one of the gun hands being held behind the masked head.

"Let's go find some place to hide you until you return to normal." He says with a bit of a sigh and glances about before heading off deeper into the park.

- o 0 o -


	25. Chapter 25

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Dark Ocean**

The strange rookie finally finishes laughing and smirks, one that causes his hackles to raise up while also causing some part of him to freeze. "The fate of the 'egg' was the same as any egg. It shattered about as the life within emerged. Of course I'm referring to Sasuke as the egg while my brother and I being the chick."

It takes him a few seconds to realize what this guy has said. "Sasuke is..." He hears his partner trail off while he it finally dawns on him that Sasuke paid the ultimate price.

"Yes, he's dead." YamiTekiimon state in confirmation. "What did you expect? He kept killing and absorbing the data of fresh and in-training Digimon, as though he himself were a Digimon." The strange dark coloured rookie says with a sneer.

"As if a human can handle so much data flowing within their weak frames." YamiTekiimon adds. "Sasuke would have been better off pairing with a Digimon, but then, I'm sure you know that such a thought never crossed his pretty little head."

He weakly chuckles at that, he kind of had to agree with that. His right hand moves to cover his stomach while Koichi pipes in, "Are you saying that your data formed within a human? And was this... Sasuke a ninja in training like Naruto? Is that how he managed to..." Koichi swallows and he couldn't blame the other dimensional traveler for not finishing that sentence or thought.

"Yea, the two came from the same world, even studied in the same school." YamiTekiimon answers in an off handed manner. "Although you'd be surprised to hear what kind of rumours are going around concerning your disappearance." The rookie states while looking right at him when saying that.

"They're gossiping about me? I'm guessing that they think I defected to some other village and will come back for vengeance once I'm powerful enough, right?" He muses out loud and the soft snort from the odd rookie pretty much confirms that. _'Even now, they think so little of me. They couldn't care about my opinion of them while I lived among them and when I vanish, they suddenly regret how they treated me. Hypocrites.'_

"Sounds like there isn't any love loss between yourself and this village." Koichi murmurs while Dorugreymon grunts. He glances first at Koichi and then at his currently ruby furred partner.

"I take it you possess Koichi's human spirit, don't you? You'll be trying to get the other half from Koichi, right?" He asks as he returns to looking at the Digimon that Gatomon and Palmon had encountered and likely is responsible for their memory problems.

"Correct." YamiTekiimon states.

-(V)-

**Mitsou Yamaki**

**Tamer Real World**

"It would seem that we've got another Tamer living in West Shinjuku." He says a second before he flips his empty lighter open before flipping it closed. _'Now we have to begin searching for the pair of them.'_ He thinks.

"I would think that we would have a better way to use our resources." He glances towards the speaker. "Like creating a program that keeps these things from crossing into our world." The speaker sneers.

"I would say its our duty to monitor these digital creations within our world. Perhaps we might discover why they keep trying to breech our world." He informs the newly arrived Kouta Takahiro.

"Oh yes, I had forgotten all about young Naruto Uzumaki and Ryo Akiyama. How are they by the way?" Mr Takahiro asks.

-(V)-

**Koichi Kimura**

**Dark Ocean**

He understood that some boy that Naruto had known growing up is not only dead, but had went around to killing and _absorbing_ Digimon. So much so that this data compiled upon itself to create two new Digimon that, upon hatching, killed this guy. _'And on top of that, this guy stole from Tommy's and mine elemental half.'_

Now, though, it seems that one of the two Digimon that hatched out of this guy is aiming to complete their set of spirits by trying to extract the beast spirit of Darkness from him. "And what makes you think I won't collect the human spirit in turn?" He finds himself asking while narrowing his eyes at YamiTekiimon.

"And who says we'll stand by while you fight Koichi?" Dorugreymon rumbles while Naruto nods in agreement. He presses his lips after glancing at the two of them before taking a few steps towards YamiTekiimon.

"I think this is something I have to do without your help. It is my duty as the Chosen of Darkness to get this spirit back." He states as confidently as he can. "My thanks, though, for the offer." He adds as he takes out his Digivice.

"Good luck then." The blond partner of Dorugreymon says after studying him for a few seconds. "I'll be over there and try to stay away from the water. There are other things that exist in their world and they seem to call that ocean home." Naruto informs him and he nods, recalling that episode where Kari was pulled into this world.

_'Let's hope this won't too long. The longer this battle goes on, the more likely we'll attract the attention of the natives... Although, I wonder if he's aware of them...'_ He thinks as ringlets of data appears about his hand and uses his Digivice to scan the data.

The transformation into JagerLoweemon seem to be faster then his previous experiences. The next thing he's aware of is the power of this place. It was like every breath he took, he not only inhaled air but power. _'No wonder he's so confident... But there's something more... No time to investigate it though, I have a fight to win.'_ He thinks as he crouches in a ready stance to attack.

"Phantom Quake!" YamiTekiimon shouts after leaping into the air and upon landing, the ground begins to crack up and part. He charges over the still shaking ground to tackle the rookie.

YamiTekiimon manages to evade him. It would go on like that for a few minutes, him charging at the rookie while the strange rookie continues to dodge. There are a few times when YamiTekiimon hadn't been quick enough to evade a paw swing. He growls in annoyance, particularly as the rookie fires off a series of range attacks called Mini Star Shower and launches at least a hundred fist size rocks at him.

He didn't dare fire off an attack since they tend to be rather devastating even without the power boost this place offers. Not that YamiTekiimon's attack harm him, the most they've done is cause minor dents in his armor. No, they just serve to annoy him which angers him which is why he's growling at YamiTekiimon.

Tension is thick between them as they study each other. He grows inpatient with this fight, he wants what's his and that's that. He pulls in energy from the surrounding area a few seconds before he charges at YamiTekiimon. He manages to blindside the rookie when the other had moved in the direction he had hoped he would.

With a good strong grip upon the rookie viva his left forepaw, he tries to bite down upon the rookie's head to end it. YamiTekiimon squirms about, trying to get out from under the paw. Snarling in annoyance, he decides to put his full weight upon the rookie's chest.

It didn't take long until his body has shifted to help put as much weight as possible upon the small body pinned down by his paw. YamiTekiimon's cries of pain is like music to his ears. Whispered urgings to continue torturing the rookie instead of quickly finishing the rookie off murmur within his mind.

"Koichi! I think now would be a good time to snap out of it!" He frowns, confused as to who the voice is speaking to. The whispers tell him to ignore the voice but whoever is speaking continues on.

"You're too close to the water's edge. I'm sure you remember what's in the water or do you need a refresher course? Get your spirit so we can get out of here before whatever is stirring within the water decides to fully wake!" He finally glances about and stares at the pair, the Digimon next to the human is looking worriedly out towards the ocean while the human is looking right at him.

He suddenly feels embarrassed under the human's gaze. _'Naruto...'_ He thinks and with a blink, he is once more in the right frame of mind.

Though feeling shock and guilt, he doesn't move from pinning the rookie down. With a shake of his head, he moves his body to the left and then, with a mighty swipe of his left paw, he sends YamiTekiimon away from the bank. As the familiar circle of data appears, so does his human spirit.

He quickly grabs it viva his jaws and without the spirit being within the data circle, the rest of YamiTekiimon becomes data ringlets and then, as he regains his human form, the data goes straight into his Digivice. "Looks like we're too late." Dorugreymon states as he stops walking towards them to glance back towards the water.

_'Oh shit...'_ He thinks at the sight of heads poking out of the water's surface. All sporting a pair of yellow eyes that stand all the more out as their heads are black with dark shades of grey. He backs a few steps away before turning about and running up to the earthen ledge, Naruto moves to help him up while Dorugreymon is snarling softly at the shades' heads.

"Thanks." He says to Naruto as Dorugreymon lowers his front part of his body. Naruto gives him a confused look while aiding him up onto Dorugreymon's back.

"For snapping me out of it. If you hadn't..." He trails off, it was the first time he ever had trouble with his beast sprit but knew that the others had trouble with theirs. Well, most of them with Zoe being the exception and previously, himself as well.

"No problem, Koichi." The blond says as Dorugreymon launches himself into the air. "Things happen and you often need a little reminder to help you remember your goals." The whiskered cheeked blond adds.

"And now, we have to find a way to get out of here." Dorugreymon states while circling the ruined lighthouse as the shades' whispers begin once more to be heard clearly within his mind. He tries to cover his ears but that doesn't seem to help.

Then as the whispers become unbearable, a gate of colour appears a few feet above their heads. The voice pause before they continue but in greater volume and more urgency within their tones. As they pass through the gate, he begins to black out and feels somebody grab him, more likely the one grabbing him is Naruto.

-(V)-

**Kari Kamiya**

**01/02 Digital World**

They all sigh in relief as the red ultimate Digimon comes flying out of the portal they opened with Naruto and Koichi upon his back. As the ultimate comes down to land, they all get a better look at the two boys upon the furry dragon's back, just before the wings that glint in a metallic fashion. It looks as though Naruto is holding onto an unconscious Koichi.

"What happened? Is Koichi going to be ok?" Tommy asks upon racing to Dorugreymon's side. Naruto manages to hold Koichi bridle style while dismounting off of the ruby furred ultimate's back.

"He just blacked out as we entered into the portal. Those shades made their appearance. I'm not sure what they were doing to Koichi to cause him to black out. Guess we'll have to wait until he wakes to ask." The bright blond answers before Joe motions for Naruto to set Koichi down upon the ground.

"What happened before they appeared?" Her brother asks while she hangs back with TK. She watches Naruto closely as he answers, not sure if she wants to hear this.

"Well, Daemon was there and so was that Digimon, YamiTekiimon. After a bit of discussion which seems to be about the reasons why Dorugreymon and myself were brought along with Koichi, Daemon then attacks the rookie only for the guy to reveal to be some kind of trap program in the rookie's appearance." Naruto recounts.

"Then the real YamiTekiimon makes his appearance just before Daemon's frame breaks apart to reveal the data within. Within minutes, multiple eggs get created from Daemon's data and then sent through various portals." She isn't the only one to gasp at that bit of information.

"Just how many of these eggs were created?" Davis asks and Naruto replies grimly, "Twelve eggs."

_'Twelve... Does that mean that they each hold one twelfth of his power?'_ She wonders, her memories of that night where they banished Daemon to the Dark Ocean had been jogged viva watching those DVDs concerning their adventures.

"Well, after that, Koichi and YamiTekiimon fought over their possession of the two spirit halves. Koichi didn't use any attacks while YamiTekiimon used plenty while evading Koichi's lunges. When Koichi finally pinned YamiTekiimon, they were a foot or two away from the water's edge. Not sure what happened but after a few minutes, Koichi got engulf in a black aura and then began to throw the total of his weight upon YamiTekiimon." Naruto explains.

"I'm not sure if Koichi could hear the screams of the rookie during that and about then, heads began to erupt from the ocean. I then shouted at Koichi and after a few minutes, Koichi tosses YamiTekiimon to the right and when this ringlet of data appears, snatched his human spirit which causes YamiTekiimon to become data and upon Koichi becoming human, the data then entered into his Digivice." Naruto says and leans upon Dorugreymon before continuing.

"Koichi then comes running up to us and we climb onto Dorugreymon's back. Once in the air, Koichi seems to be suffering from something and just after that portal opened, he covers his ears. Well, I think at that point he covered his ears but then, he was slumping when I noticed him blacking out." Naruto explains with a sigh. "I grabbed him within second of feeling him slumping over. And, well..." Naruto shrugs and glances at them. "You know the rest."

"Just how did you guys open up the portal?" Dorugreymon asks while the ultimate studies them in a questioning way. She found it rather odd that Dorugreymon has yet to transform back into Dorumon.

"Well, it was a re-enacting of what we did with Daemon only in reverse." Yolei answers. "Of course, we did have a rather large number to help open the portal to retrieve you guys."

"Well, thanks for the help. I doubt we could have escaped so easily without it." Dorugreymon says and Naruto nods in agreement.

- o 0 o -

**Omake**

_'Ok, this is the most inaccurate mirror I've come across.'_ Genin Naruto Uzumaki thinks while staring at his reflection that sports an orange long sleeve shirt, blue pants that seem to be rather stiff, and no sandals upon the feet. In actuality, the only pouch the genin could see is too tiny to hold anything but needles and a rather odd plastic device hanging from a pants loop, while no head protector in sight.

"Err... Why are there two of you, Hige?" The two Narutos glance to their left/right. "You mean that isn't a reflection?" Tamer Naruto asks the purple furred Digimon while genin Naruto leaps back away from the Digimon.

"What the heck is that thing?" The genin demands while pointing right at Dorumon.

"This is Dorumon, he's my partner Digimon." The Naruto often nicknamed Hige replies. "So, you managed to become a genin, huh? How'd you manage that? Particularly considering the prevailing attitudes of the villagers?"

"What's it to you? I'm a ninja and I'm going to become Hokage, believe it!" Naruto says, not sure what to make of this smart sounding version of himself. "And where did ya learn to talk like that?"

"School, actually. It's rather fun once you're not dealing with adults who aren't looking at you as if you're a bug or act as though you are a waste of time." Hige answers. "Of course I've got more years of school to attend then I would like but then, considering the world I'm living in, I guess it's expected." The Tamer version of Naruto Uzumaki adds.

"Huh?" Genin Naruto Uzumaki says in puzzlement, not really sure he's following what this alternate version of him is saying. "But, what about our dreams?"

Hige sighs and asks, "If you were given the opinion after stealing the Forbidden Scroll to start over in a new world, would you take it? Especially as a squad of Jonin closed in?"

Naruto didn't know what to say for a few seconds. "But Iruka-sensei tracked us down and defended us, right?"

"I didn't stop with stealing the scroll, I thought I'd get bonus points for ever scroll that I stole, so I grab as many as I can get my hands on before leaving." Hige muses. "I was eleven though, just failed my second time."

"It was my third and it was only the scroll." Naruto admits.

"As interesting as this is, here's a question, where are we and how did we get here?" Dorumon asks.

"I was falling down a..." Naruto trails off before glancing around in alarm. "I'm dead arn't I?"

**"Not really. Just consider this a minor dimensional glitch which will soon be fixed."** A voice says as it comes from all around them all at once. **"I would say your good byes in the next few minutes as you will each be returned to your place as though this never happened."**

"Here's a question, what do you mean by him being your partner?" Naruto asks Hige a second after giving Dorumon a thoughtful look.

"He's like my best friend, protector, and life-partner. And by life-partner I mean we'll be together until one of us dies and not in the married sense." Hige says, snapping at the genin at the pale look that came over him at the mention of life-partner.

"Best friend?" Naruto murmurs and feels rather jealous of this other version of him.

"We did know each other before we met any of the others, like Henry or Ryo." Hige says but sighs. "They're fellow kids about our age that are also partnered with Digimon."

"Digimon?" Naruto wonders.

"Short for Digital Monster." Dorumon explains.

Then, as the background begins to change, Hige says, "Just a word of advice, stay clear of Sasuke Uchiha! The guy really is a bastard! He looking for power no matter the cost, it's how he died. He absorbed Digimon data and it pooled within his being for a bit before breaking out of him. So, stay clear of him if you know what's good for you!"

"Huh? You can't..." Is all Naruto manages to get out before he finds himself in a sewer. "mean that." Naruto glances about for a few seconds, wondering if that encounter had only been a daydream or a warning.

With a sigh, the genin files that encounter away to review it later as for now, he has a fox to speak with.

- o 0 o -


	26. Chapter 26

**Trade Up**

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

- o 0 o -

'_Thoughts'_

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

- o 0 o -

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**01/02 Real World**

"I can't believe you guys are going." Mimi says while as the farewells are still going on. Oddly enough, Tai and Davis had taken time to sign the strap of the pair of goggles that he had bought. He doesn't plan to wear them again since it will likely cause the marker ink to smear, although he does have a note book that sports various signatures and written farewells from those chosen sporting crests or special evolution Digi-Eggs.

Koichi and Tommy, for a parting gift from the whole group, the pair had gotten their own burnt copies of the Digimon show and movies, each sporting a small note book containing signatures from said two groups. He's unsure if they received anything else as he found himself in a head lock by Davis within seconds of Davis' arrival. It hadn't been long after getting out of said head lock that he found Tai wrapping an arm about his shoulders while giving him some advice upon being a leader since, he does own his own set of goggles.

Throughout all of this, the Digimon, too, are busy giving Dorumon a send off. From the looks of things, each of the farewells seems to be wrapping up. Not that it seems to cause Sora to stop filming all of this or for Kari to stop taking pictures, he manages to bend down to get his back pack and then the cloth bag containing stuff for Ryo.

He still didn't have the heart to tell them that Ryo's still seems to be under the age of sixteen. He kind of chalks that up to Ryo's travels between dimensions. It wouldn't surprise him if something about the Digital World helps to repress the aging process as if it wasn't so then the first group lead by Tai, would have aged a good six months during their first adventure and likely needed new cloths throughout their time in the Digital World as their cloths would seem to have shrunk. He wonders if any of them ever gave it thought about that little fact but he is rather excited about returning back to the dimension that he's come to see as his home dimension.

'_I wonder how much trouble YamiTekiimon's 'brother' is getting into?'_ He wonders as Dorumon comes to stand to his right. He smiles over at his friend and partner, going so far as to place his free hand upon the purple rookie's back.

Dorumon glances at him upon feeling his hand on his back but the rookie doesn't do much then smile slightly before glancing back at the mob about Koichi and Tommy. Izzy finally steps away, the partner of Tentomon had spent a lot of time studying the dimensional traveling device and from what he gathers, Izzy hopes to recreate it, which likely means that this shall unlikely will be the last time he'll see either Koichi and Tommy or even this particular group of Chosen.

'_Wonder how Ryo will take that thought?'_ He muses as Koichi comes to stand to his left and then puts on the back pack that contains his gifts from the native Chosen as well as various gifts for the rest of Tommy and his group members who weren't able to be on this adventure. "Nervous?"

Koichi sighs while nodding. "Shouldn't we be? This time, we're dealing with somebody with a Beast spirit." Koichi answers. "Beast spirits are much more powerful then the Human spirit." The Chosen Warrior of Darkness adds.

"You think since so much time has passed that this other half could be more dangerous then YamiTekiimon?" Dorumon asks in alarm and he's a bit confused about the power levels between the Human and Beast spirits. "Just how different are these two spirits?" The biggest rookie present asks.

As Koichi is mulling over how to answer that, Tommy finally manages to pull himself away from the group. "What you guys talking about?" Tommy asks while putting on his own back pack that, like Koichi, contains various things.

"Take care!" "Good luck!" "Hope it goes well." The native Chosen say before either Koichi or himself could answer Tommy.

With a shrug and a sigh, Koichi sighing and him shrugging, Koichi takes the device from the nifty carrying pouch that Izzy got for it and brings up the location of the Ice Beast spirit. "Huh… That's… interesting." Koichi murmurs but before he can ask about it, Koichi creates a gate with the device.

He blinks at bit at the landscape that lies on the other side. _'Isn't that the upper realm of the Digital world? It's the home plane of the Digimon Sovereigns if I recall right.'_ He thinks while feeling Dorumon stiffen slightly at the sight of the crystal landscape.

"Wow…" Tommy says and the younger Chosen Warrior is already crossing over into that dimension. "Koichi! You should come see the sky! There isn't a sun or even a blue sky!" Tommy adds in awe.

"That sounds about right." He hears Dorumon muse before his partner walks through the gate. With a shake of his head, he walks through the gate as well, leaving Koichi to the last through.

Once through, he turns his head up and gazes at the familiar sphere that hangs high above the land. "Hey! My spirit isn't far!" Tommy says while holding out his Digivice with this strange black and white tile map with these two arches over head with a dot flashing.

-(V)-

**Ryo Akiyama**

**Tamer Digital World**

They finally make it back to the Digimon Sovereign plane of the Digital World. With Cyberdramon keeping a good hold of the strange statue that keeps trying to bond with other Digimon they encounter and with he himself. _'As if we really need another snow storm to rage throughout the Digital World, covering everything in layers upon layers of ice and snow.'_

Cyberdramon suddenly tenses up and pauses in flight. "What's up?" He asks his partner in a concerned tone.

"Ryo? Ryo! Heya Cyberdramon! We're back!" He stiffens and glances down to find a group of four down upon the ground. Only one of the four is a Digimon and a very familiar one at that, let alone the sight of the bright blond hair next to said rookie.

'_Naruto? Dorumon?'_ He thinks as Cyberdramon is already moving to land. As the group manages to get to the landing spot, Naruto grins brightly at him while going on to introduce the other two kids with him before his feet even touch the ground. "The tall one is Koichi Kimura and the one wearing the orange hat is Tommy Himi."

"Hi!" Tommy says while Koichi responds with, "Hello."

"Hey." He says a second before he waves at the pair. "You guys look well." He adds after studying Dorumon and Naruto. "Considering what was happening when we parted."

Naruto grimace while Dorumon sighs upon the reminder. "So, where's Sasuke?" He asks and the two partners glance at each other while Koichi and Tommy get this sad look.

"Sasuke… Well, he's dead." Dorumon answers while Naruto nods in agreement. "All that Digimon data in him… It bonded together and hatched out of him. Something went wrong and instead of a single Digimon, it was twins."

"Also, have you noticed any unusual weather patterns?" Tommy asks after silence hangs between them for a few minutes. He blinks and glances over at the bag that holds that little statue before turning to address the shorter boy.

"Yea, but we took care of it." He answers. "Although, there's this statue that kind of came off the Digimon we had to deal with." He adds.

"Did you capture the spirit? Or did it end up binding itself to somebody else?" Tommy presses which causes him to blink.

"Spirit? It looks more like a statue actually." He responds and gestures to the bag that Cyberdramon is holding onto. The group relaxes while Naruto chuckles light heartedly.

Tommy points what he believes is a Digivice and within seconds, the statue seems to be phased out of the bag and then gets sucked into the device. "What a relief to have it back." Tommy says while holding the device so that the screen is facing up, allowing him to glimpse a face of something that kind of reminds him of the statue only more realistic looking.

"I'm not sure if I should be disappointed that this wasn't more of an adventure but then, I'm relieved considering the mess YamiTekiimon had created." Naruto admits thoughtfully while Tommy moves to pocket the Digivice. "Hey, isn't that the back pack Sasuke had with him?"

"Yea, thought it would work to hold the… spirit and it did. Although, I did have to move most of the scrolls into my own pack but the spirit didn't take up much room though." He replies and Naruto nods.

Then the blond glances over to Koichi and Tommy. "So… I guess you guys will be heading home now too, now that Tommy has his half back." The bewhiskered blond muses and the pair nod.

"Yea, guess so." Koichi muses while Tommy nods. "It was nice meeting you guys." Tommy says before adding, "You know, despite how we ended up meeting."

"Yea. I still feel like I should have done more to stop him from stealing your spirit halves." Naruto admits. "I mean, I just stood there…"

"At least you help get them back." Tommy says reassuringly and Naruto merely sighs. Dorumon hums while he looks on, he's sure that Naruto will tell him all about it.

"Guess this is good bye then. Hope you don't have too much trouble getting home." He says and Koichi nods.

"Thanks for all of your help." Koichi says after bringing out another device. A gate opens within seconds and closes as soon as the two walk through, leaving Naruto, Cyberdramon, Dorumon, and himself alone.

"Oh yea, this is bag is for you." Naruto says after a bit and the blond hands over a cloth bag with paw prints painted on it. "It's from some old friends of yours." The blond adds as he works to pull something out of the bag.

He allows the strap to go to his elbow so he can read the tag. He stiffens at the name written there. _'Sorry for what happened. Matt.'_ He reads and rereads a few times before moving to pull out another wrapped gift, this time with Izzy's name on it.

"You didn't… You ended up there? Really?" He asks the two and Naruto replies, "Yea, we did. Although there was a rough start since Gatomon and Palmon got amnesia from something YamiTekiimon did upon greeting them."

"But I thought those mushrooms vanished when the Dark Master reformatted the Digital World!" He says with a start and Naruto shrugs, answering, "Well, we don't know what the guy did, only that the result had the two forgetting everything, including their own partners."

"Heck, they didn't even know what a human is!" Naruto adds after a moment's thought. He can see that Naruto and Dorumon are working themselves up needlessly.

"But you got the guy in the in, right Hige?" He says and Naruto blinks upon hearing his nick name before snorting softly while shaking his head ever so slightly. Although it was Dorumon who responds, "Yea, we got him. Although, by then, we were in the Dark Ocean and it was Koichi who did the deed."

He shivers at the mention of that particular dimension and puts the still wrapped gifts drop back into the bag. _'That place is definitely not the greatest place to visit, let alone a stage for a fight.'_ He thinks as they stand there in silence.

"So, I take it you were taking the spirit to Azulongmon?" Dorumon asks, changing the subject to his relief. "Yea, we were. Guess we need to go there for another reason though." He replies thoughtfully.

"Guess your right, DK, guess your right." Naruto says in agreement and it's his turn to huff at his nick name. "So, are we doing this or what?" The blond asks.

"I don't know, it's not like you'll be able to keep up with Cyberdramon flying with me in the crook of his arm." He points out and Naruto's blue eyes flash at the challenge in his tone. "I mean, it wouldn't be much of a race."

"Oh really?" The blond Tamer muses while Naruto unhooks his Digivice before taking out a card from his deck. "Get ready to be amazed, DK!" The younger Tamer states with a smirk before slashing the newly transformed card through the Digivice that soon leads to Dorumon glowing and a ball of light engulfs the rookie Digimon.

"DoruGreymon!" The much changed rookie roars as the light shatters to reveal a fuzzy dragon like Digimon sporting nose blade, two pairs of wings, crimson fur with black stripes, and a golden spike at the tip of his tail. He takes out his Digivice and within seconds, DoruGreymon's information is on display.

**DoruGreymon**

Level: Ultimate

Attribute: Data

Attacks: Metal Meteor and Bloody Tower.

Beast Dragon type. This Digimon's alias is Final Enemy. With its overwhelming stature it can demolish any indomitable Digimon, and even the attacks of the Nightmare Soldiers are deflected with one sweep of its wing. As it is highly intelligent, it won't reveal its existence carelessly, so it is difficult to even detect it.

He finds himself very much impressed with the bit about the alias being Final Enemy. He then glances over to Cyberdramon and isn't that surprised to find his partner growling, only this time, it's likely because of Naruto's partner then Naruto himself. With the data of DoruGreymon gone from the screen, he prepares to subdue his partner if Cyberdramon doesn't control himself and begins attacking DoruGreymon.

But it seems that all that restraint taught to Cyberdramon concerning Naruto paid off as all Cyberdramon did was growl and flex his fingers. "So, we're racing or not?" Naruto asks and he glances over to find Naruto already on DoruGreymon's back, out of range of the neck spikes but just before the metal wings.

"Of course." He says and it wasn't long before Cyberdramon had lower an arm so he can get in the crook of his partner's arm. With that, the two dragon based Digimon get into the air and then, on a united count of three, the two ultimates take off as fast as they can, heading for the castle of Azulongmon.

Unsurprisingly, he can kind of hear Naruto chuckling and it takes him a bit before he realizes that he's chuckling as well. His heart thumps wildly in his chest as wind causes his eyes to water, forcing him to squint his eyes. As Cyberdramon pushes it, he stops and moves to breathe only from his nose. _'Times like these, I wish I had something to cover my eyes.'_

-(V)-

**Sandaime Hokage**

**Konohagakure**

The summons for Sasuke Uchiha had failed, this time rather spectacularly which means that the boy, whether any wanted to believe it or not, is dead. He didn't feel much concerning Sasuke, he never been that close to the boy and if he were to be honest with himself, Sasuke had been a bitter reminder of a certain failure to settle matters through diplomacy. He never liked what happened with the clan and would have loved to have those behind the massacre removed but they had too much political clot.

The ashes at the centre of the summoning circle will be put in an urn and taken to the shine within the Uchiha district. He is already trying to think of what to write to Sasuke's older brother in regards to what happened to Sasuke. Even now, they don't understand how the previous summonings have failed to bring the boy back to the village, they may never know the real reason behind the failures, although the idea of an anti-summon seal is still a popular theory.

And now, now they'll be trying for Naruto as they had agreed when they had been pressing to proceed in summoning Sasuke and needed his skills in seals to do so. Previous sessions to do these kind of summons always, as the younger generation says, bomb by either summoning a body part or their cloths. He seems to recall an attempt that summoned the target's head, not that he had been there to witness it, only read about it during his research in what errors or what was written in the past with these kind of the attempts.

It would take time to clean up from this final attempt before they could begin on trying to summon Naruto. He does wonder if Naruto would want to come back to the village but they need to be sure that nothing has happened to the seal upon the boy's belly. They also would like to recover the scrolls that Naruto stole that night while buying into Mizuki's lies concerning another way to become a Genin.

In the end, it doesn't matter as it'll take up to a month's time to assemble the ninja needed to summon Naruto, after all, the boy has chakra reserves beyond any ninja within the village at this point in time and it's likely that the boy's reserves have only grown while learning the jutsus on the stolen scrolls. They might even need to sacrifice a few prisoners from the prison in order to succeed in this endeavour, though he dearly hopes that it won't come to that though.

-(V)-

**Mitsou Yamaki**

**Tamer Real World**

Upon entering into his apartment, he tosses his keys into the bowl by the door before taking off his shoes. As he heads for the fridge, he frowns upon noticing that the take out he had within the fridge has vanished. With a scowl, he closes the fridge and heads to see what else has been taken.

He doesn't notice anything wrong with his entertainment unit so he proceeds to check the rooms. He stiffens at the sight of no towels upon the rack but a check in his room reveals that nobody's been in there, which leaves only one room to go. He grips the door knob and very slowly turns it, very much aware that his heart is pounding.

He pushes the door slowly and then let's go as the door goes pass the door frame. Holding the palm of his right hand upon the door while his left holds the door knob, he takes a deep breath and his left hand lets go and he slams the door open with his right. He exhales in surprise upon seeing his 'cousin' upon his bed with wet towls about the floor along with the take out boxes.

"Surprise!" Naruto and Dorumon say upon glancing in his direction. The blond smiles widely while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head while saying, "Sorry the room is such a mess; I had just got out of the shower about ten minutes ago."

"And the take out boxes?" He asks and Dorumon replies, "I couldn't find Hige's trash can."

He nods while sporting a slight smile. "I'll phone the school and tell them that you'll be returning tomorrow." He says and Naruto groans in reply.

"Ah, come on! Don't I get at least a day to readjust to being home?" The blond asks in a pleading tone. "I mean, I've got enough homework to do that likely will be need to be handed in as soon as I return! Can't I have at least a day to do it before returning there?"

"Then it's a good thing you can create those clones, isn't it?" He remarks before turning. "Also, you might want to phone your friend Henry. He's been rather worried about you." With that said, he heads back to the living room while thinking, _'Glad to have you back, kid.'_

"How does he know about my shadow clones? I rarely use them around the apartment!" He hears Naruto say to his Digimon partner.

- o 0 o –

Readers:

This is the final chapter of Trade Up. As you can see, I set up things for a sequel although it might be a while before I'll be posting it with Christmas coming up, I'll be rather busy at work. I'm not sure what I'll be calling the sequel and might be doing a poll for its name as Trade Up title itself just kind of happened.


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